Fearnley ready to face 'inspiration' Norrie in Paris

Jacob Fearnley says he has taken great encouragement from Cameron Norrie as the British pair prepare to meet for the first time in the French Open third round on Saturday.

Norrie, 29, and Fearnley, 23, share a similar path having both played college tennis at the same university in Texas.

Fearnley, who was outside the world's top 500 12 months ago, is enjoying his Roland Garros debut and is set to break into the top 50 despite having never played a professional match on clay before this year.

Norrie, who has reached the third round on three previous occasions, has fallen to 81 in the rankings but defeated 11th seed Daniil Medvedev in the opening round.

"It's an interesting one," Fearnley said. "I know Cam very well. We both went to TCU in America, although we didn't cross paths there.

"To see a guy coming out of the college I went to, it was just inspiring.

"It kind of showed me that it was possible, that the coaches at TCU and the work that he put in at TCU could get him to the Tour.

"He's done amazing things on the Tour. He competes so hard, fights every match, fights every point. You can see that he really leaves it all out there. So that's something that I ire."

While Fearnley is from Edinburgh, South Africa-born Norrie's Scottish roots come from his Glaswegian father.

"I haven't really played another Brit at this level," Fearnley continued. "It's good for the British fans to have a guaranteed Brit in the fourth round. It's pretty cool."

A likely showdown with three-time champion Novak Djokovic, who faces Austrian Filip Misolic on Saturday, awaits the winner.

Fearnley has taken two notable scalps, beating veteran 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka in straight sets before 22nd seed Ugo Humbert retired injured at 4-4 in the second set after the Scot won the first 6-3.

Norrie, meanwhile, followed his exhausting win over Medvedev with a more routine straight-sets defeat of big-hitting 114th-ranked qualifier Federico Gomez.

Former world number eight Norrie said: "I'm happy to be through and enjoying my tennis again. I feel like I have a really good game for the clay in general.

"I think it's down to, if I'm moving well and giving nothing away, I can be really difficult to beat."

On Fearnley's rapid rise through the ranks, he added: "This is his first clay season and he has played unreal. It is going to be tough playing him."