Jaziri And Edmund Advance In Nottingham

Malek Jaziri (photo: Brigitte Urban)

NOTTINGHAM, June 20, 2016

The remaining first round matches were on Monday’s schedule of the Aegon Open in Nottingham. Malek Jaziri, who is playing the tournament in a second straight year, gained his first victory over James Ward in the pair’s second tour meeting. The world number 60 from Tunisia won 67% of his first service points and converted five of his 10 break point chances to prevail in one hour and 37 minutes. Jaziri will take on seventh seed Andreas Seppi next.

British home hope Kyle Edmund celebrated his second win over Lukas Rosol in as many meetings between the two. The 21-year-old from Beverley sent down eight aces, saving the only break point he faced and capitalized on two of his own to advance in one hour and nine minutes.

“He’s a very dangerous player. You don’t know what to expect of him,” Edmund said of Rosol. “Coming off a good week last week, it was important that I didn’t relax, I still stay focused, still look to improve. I felt I did that well.” Edmund will square off with the tournament’s number four Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round.

Top seed Kevin Anderson will start his Nottingham campaign against Ivan Dodig. The 31-year-old from Croatia beat Julien Benneteau 6-2, 6-3 in 70 minutes. Second favourite Pablo Cuevas will face French qualifier Stephane Robert, who took out Brydan Klein 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 15 minutes.

German veteran Benjamin Becker fought past Jordan Thompson 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to set a second round clash with Argentine Guido Pella. US-American qualifier Ernesto Escobedo celebrated his first match win on the ATP World Tour. The 19-year-old from California ousted Diego Schwartzman 6-0, 6-3. He saved the only break point he faced and broke the Argentine’s service four times to seal victory in only 48 minutes. Escobedo will next play fifth seed Sam Querrey.

The match between reigning champion Denis Istomin and Damir Dzumhur was suspended due to darkness at 6-1, 6-7.