Kyle Edmund has continued his winning run in Beijing with a 6-3, 6-2, win over Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round of the China Open.
The Brit progressed to the first round after winning back-to-back qualifying matches over the weekend against Pablo Andujar and Evgeny Donskoy. In his latest match, Edmund won 85% of first service points and saved 4/4 break points to dismiss the Spaniard in only 65 minutes in the ATP 500 tournament.
Edmund’s triumph over Garcia-Lopez is set to elevate him inside the world top 50 for the first time in his career. The breakthrough comes weeks after the 21-year-old upset Richard Gasquet and John Isner to reach the fourth round of the US Open.
In the second round of the China Open, Edmund will face seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut. The Spaniard endured a roller coaster match against John Millman, edging past him 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. It was a far from perfect performance by Bautista Agut, who produced a winner-error ratio of 32-46.
Another Spanish victor on Monday was David Ferrer. The fifth seed battled past Pablo Cuevas in two close sets, winning 6-4, 7-6(3). Ferrer didn’t face a single break point throughout the entire match and won 73% of his service points.
This week Ferrer is bidding to win his first title of the season. He has won at least one title on the tour every year since 2010.
