British qualifier Kyle Edmund has once again lived up to his next generation hype after defeating seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in the second round of the China Open.
The 21-year-old, who is set to rise inside the world’s top 50 when next week’s ranking are published, recovered from a 0-2 deficit in the deciding set to knock out the world No.18 after over two hours of play at the National Tennis Centre in Beijing. The win moves the Brit to his third ATP quarter-final of the season after Doha and Queen’s. In the next round, he could face an encounter with top seed and Davis Cup team mate Andy Murray.
David Ferrer dropped just ten points on his serve as he eased past Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4, in just under 80 minutes. Impressively the Spaniard closed out the match by holding his final three service games to love. Ferrer’s win comes after what has been a lacklustre summer for the 34-year-old. Reaching his first quarter-final since the Bastad Open, he will play either Alexander Zverev or Jack Sock.
As Edmund and Ferrer progress to the last eight, some players had to play their first round matches on Wednesday due to the poor weather conditions in Beijing earlier in the week. Eighth seed Richard Gasquet overcame a slow start to defeat Sam Querrey 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. The Frenchman was outplayed during some stages of the match, but his experience proved valuable as he produced only 17 unforced errors compared to Querrey’s 37. Gasquet will play Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round.
Finally, Grigor Dimitrov required almost three hours to down Steve Johnson 7-5, 6-7(9), 6-4. The Bulgarian had a duo of match points to close it out in straight sets, but failed to do so as Johnson continued to battle. Ultimately, it was a falter by the American that Secured Dimitrov’s breakthrough. A forehand error from Johnson enabled Dimitrov to break and serve out the match in the following game. During the roller coaster match, Dimitrov produced nine aces and 56 winners. Awaiting him in the second round will be French sixth seed Lucas Pouille.
