Just weeks after the 22-year-old overtook him to become the new British No.1, Norrie put in arguably his best performance of the season to see off the Stuttgart champion and punch his ticket into the next round.

In a third meeting between the pair, Norrie made it three wins from three against Draper to book a clash with either fourth seed Alexander Zverev or USA’s Marcos Giron in the next round.

Norrie’s record against fellow Brits now extends to 7-2 as he joined Harriet Dart as the two victors in the all-British clashes on No.1 Court on day four.

“It was not easy coming out here today to play Jack,” Norrie said. “He’s been playing so well and we’re such good friends off the court. We had to put that aside today and I felt like I was a bit of the underdog so I was pretty relaxed coming in to be honest. I played really physical and thank you all for the support.”

In the first meeting between the British No.1 and No.2 since Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski faced each other at the Australian Open in 2002 – Norrie used his experience and world class movement to help him clinch back-to-back straight sets wins.

“I’m feeling really good physically and I wanted to keep trusting my movement, trusting my legs,” he said. “I knew I’d put in some really good practice and I had the level there.

“It was nice to use it today and use my experience against Jack, but it was not an easy match. I really enjoyed it – it was a bit nervy towards the end of the tie-break but I managed to stay calm enough to get it done.

“It’s an amazing tournament and it’s always nice to get the win in front of some friends as well. It’s a special day for me.”

Norrie knew he needed to get off to a quick start and that he did. Neither player faced a single break point in the opening set, with both lefty serves providing a strong platform to build from.

On they went to the tie-break, where the 2022 semi-finalist cranked up another gear. Norrie gave a huge celebration to the crowd as he tucked away a neat volley into the open court to storm into a 5-1 lead before closing out the set with another tidy winner at the net.

Fired up from winning the opener, Norrie wasted no time in taking the advantage in the second as well – connecting on a stunning backhand pass down the line on break point to start a run nine straight points to go 3-0 up.

The first chink in the Norrie armour was finally exposed midway through the second set as a double fault helped Draper recover the first of two breaks, but it was only a minor blip for the 28-year-old. Norrie bounced back straight away and rattled off two aces in his final service game to go two sets ahead.

There was a sense that Draper was starting to grow into the contest by the end of the second and so it proved midway through the third. The British No.1 found the back of the baseline on his fourth break point of the set to stretch 5-2 in front, but Norrie refused to go away.

The five-time ATP title winner raised the level once more and broke Draper to love much to the young Brit’s disbelief – shaking his head towards his box.

Another tie-break ensued and once again it was Norrie leading the way. Draper found a tight angled winner to save one match point but a double fault from the young Brit and a return into the net saw the former world No.8 through against his Davis Cup teammate.