Australian Open ‘Free Palestine’ protest interrupts match between British No.1 Cameron Norrie and Alexander Zverev

The match was interrupted by a pro-Palestine protestor in the third set (Picture: Getty)

The Australian Open last 16 clash between British No.1 Cameron Norrie and Alexander Zverev was halted by a ‘Free Palestine’ protest on Monday.

Norrie, seeded 19th, was the last British player left standing across the men’s and women’s singles but lost to the German world No.6 in a five-set thriller.

The fourth-round match, played at the Margaret Court Arena, was interrupted when Norrie was about to serve on game point while 4-1 down in the third set.

After Pro-Palestine chants from a section of the crowd, there was a female protestor, wearing a black face mask, who shouted ‘Free Palestine’ and proceeded to throw leaflets over the barrier onto the court.

More than 25,000 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel’s offensive there, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, amid growing calls for a ceasefire.

Play was stopped for a number of minutes before the protestor was escorted out by two other spectators, who were seen pushing her up the steps to the exit.

Norrie seemed irritated by the interruption as ball boys and girls picked up the pieces of paper which had ‘Free Palestine’ written on them.

Australian Open ball boys and girls were forced to clean up the mess (Picture: Getty)

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The British No.1 went on to lose the third set and despite levelling it up in the fourth, he was beaten on a tie-break in the fifth to miss out on the quarter-finals.

The result means it is Zverev who will face second-seed Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday as they battle it out for a spot in the last four.

In the other quarter-final clashes, world No.1 Novak Djokovic plays American Taylor Fritz while fourth-seed Jannik Sinner meets Russian Andrey Rublev and world No.3 Daniil Medvedev faces a battle with Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.

The British No.1 lost in five sets.