Preview: Australian Open: Alexander Zverev vs. Cameron Norrie - prediction, head-to-head, tournament so far

Aiming to finally solve his Alexander Zverev riddle, Cameron Norrie takes on the German superstar in Friday’s Australian Open third round.

The former British No. 1 has had to battle in rounds one and two to advance to a third match in Melbourne, but must now defeat his bête noire at the seventh time of asking to reach the tournament’s last 16.

Match preview

Cruising 6-3, 3-0, Zverev wobbled in Wednesday's round two contest against Alexandre Muller to drop the second set.

Ultimately recovering from that second-set setback, and undaunted by heavy rains that caused a 30-minute delay, the German No. 1 responded to overwhelm his French opponent after the roof was closed to seal a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph.

Having come from behind to defeat Gabriel Diallo in a tricky tournament opener, Zverev has now responded to a different kind of setback en route to reaching the third round for the third year running after 2024's run to the semis and last year's progress to the title match.

Entering this year's tournament at 31-10 overall, the 28-year-old's two victories have now seen him improve to 33 wins at the first Slam of the year, and he bids for a 34th victory at the expense of a player he has never lost to.

Extending his winning streak over the Briton would mean another fourth-round involvement at Melbourne Park, where he has made the last 16 in six of seven editions.

That aspiration is threatened by Norrie, who is becoming the ‘Marathon Man’ in Melbourne after two titanic tussles in rounds one and two.

The former world No. 10 needed three hours and 39 minutes to beat Benjamin Bonzi 6-0, 6-7(2), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 before following that tournament-opening victory with a rather more straightforward success against Emilio Nava, whom he triumphed over in three hours and 19 minutes.

This was despite a one-hour delay on one of the outside courts as a heavy downpour suspended play with the 30-year-old just three points from winning.

Able to refocus and prevent the match from going into a decider, the 30-year-old sealed a 6-1, 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(5) win to advance in Melbourne to improve to 4-2 for the year and 9-7 at the Aussie Open, where he has exited early more than at the other Majors.

Four of his previous seven appearances have ended in the opening round, which has been avoided for only the fourth time, but he must now defeat the world No. 3 to reach the fourth round for only the second time after 2024's run.

Tournament so far

Alexander Zverev:

First round: vs. Gabriel Diallo 6-7(1) 6-1 6-4 6-2

Second round: vs. Alexandre Muller 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-4

Cameron Norrie:

First round: vs. Emilio Nava 6-1 7-6(3) 4-6 7-6(5)

Second round: vs. Benjamin Bonzi 6-0 6-7(2) 4-6 6-3 6-4

Head To Head

Wimbledon (2024) - Third round: Zverev 6-4 6-4 7-6(15)

Australian Open (2024) - Fourth round: Zverev 7-5 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6(3)

ATP Vienna (2023) - Round of 16: Zverev 6-2 6-4

ATP Cup (2022) - Round Robin: Zverev 7-6(2) 6-1

ATP Masters 1000 Canada (2019) - Round of 32: Zverev 7-6(4) 6-4

ATP Acapulco (2019) - Semi-final: Zverev 7-6(0) 6-3

Although Norrie was victorious in this head-to-head on the Challenger Tour, Zverev leads 6-0 in ATP Tour meetings ahead of their seventh meeting.

Having claimed four consecutive victories in straight sets between 2019 and 2023, Norrie took two sets off the 24-time ATP champion in their fourth-round contest at this Slam two years ago, with the German ultimately winning the decider after both men traded sets before the fifth.

Normal service resumed at Wimbledon later that year, with Zverev claiming a win in the third round at SW19, albeit needing to win a titanic third-set tie-break 17-15 to avoid playing a fourth set.

Norrie enters Friday's match holding a 2-4 record against top-10 opponents in the last 52 weeks, although his two wins have been in the last three against the elite — defeating Lorenzo Musetti and Carlos Alcaraz in Washington and Paris, respectively, sandwiching a loss to Novak Djokovic at the US Open.