The talent of the Next Generation group was on full display during the opening day of the Shanghai Masters with a trio of triumphant victories for the rising stars of men’s tennis.
Kyle Edmund survived a two-hour marathon to down Argentina’s Federico Delbonis 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, in the first round of the tournament. The Brit, who broke into the world’s top 50 for the first time this week after reaching the quarter-finals of the Beijing Open, overcame a costly blunder at the very end of the second set to progress to the next round. Hitting four aces and 21 winners in the encounter, the 21-year-old now faces a tricky meeting with US Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
Further success for the young group occurred with Alexander Zverev’s comprehensive straight sets dismissal of former top 10 player John Isner. Zverev, who is at a ranking high of 21st in the world, saved five out of the six break points he faced and fired nine aces to secure the 6-4, 6-2, win. His reward will be a meeting with eighth seed Marin Cilic in the next round, who he defeated earlier this year in two close tiebreaks earlier this year at the Montpellier Open in France.
“Both very tough matches, a lot of tie-breaks in those matches,” Zverev told atpworldtour.com about his previous matches against Cilic. “It’s going to be a difficult match, but I have been playing pretty well for the last few weeks. If I can continue playing like I did the last few tournaments… I have a good chance.”
Completing the hat-trick of Next Generation wins was Taylor Fritz. The American endured a roller coaster experience during his 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-3, win over French veteran Stephane Robert. Fritz’s victory has ended his 12-match losing streak against top-60 players and has given him only his second ever main draw win in a Masters tournament.
Besides the headline performances of the youngsters in Shanghai, Viktor Troicki will be the first man to play Rafael Nadal in the tournament. The Serbian eased his way to the second round after downing Czech player Lukas Rosol 6-2, 6-4, in just over an hour. Benoit Paire nearly achieved a final set whitewash during in what turned out to be a one-sided 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, win over Joao Sousa. Finally, Steve Johnson dismissed Martin Klizan 6-4, 6-3.
