ANTWERP, October 20, 2016
Top seed David Goffin headlined Thursday’s second round action of the European Open, held inside the Lotto Arena in Antwerp. The world number 12 edged past Germany’s Florian Mayer 7-5, 6-4.
Center Court Antwerp on Thursday evening
Goffin was a break down in the opening set but managed to take the frame in the 12th game. The local hero also had a slow start into the second set, getting broken at the beginning but rallied back to celebrate his first victory over Mayer in his third attempt after 74 minutes.
Goffin will next face Romanian qualifier Marius Copil, who ousted Belgian wild card Steve Darcis with a 7-6, 6-2 victory in one hour and 23 minutes.
Second seed David Ferrer got defeated by British NextGen star Kyle Edmund, losing a topsy-turvy second round match 1-6, 6-3, 6-7. The world number 15 from Spain served for the match in the 10th game of the final set but couldn’t finish the encounter. Edmund, who returned to Belgium after winning the Davis Cup final with Great Britain in Gent last year, came back and prevailed after two hours and four minutes.
“In the first set I was riding a high and he was ahead and it was the whole reversal in the second. Then in the third, it was mixture where he got the break first, I got it back and I had match points at 5-6 and obviously I played a very good tie-break,” Edmund described the rollercoaster match.
“You have to have the element of risk, where you have to take on the ball, especially with my game. I was just picking the right way to do. I like the conditions here, even though it is an indoor court. I still feel that it is very playable. You can construct the rallies, it is not only about big serves and getting the return. You get rewarded for good shots,” the 21-year-old Brit explained and added that he hasn’t tried the famous Belgian beer yet.
“I don’t drink. I do like chocolate but I haven’t had too much of it. Actually my mum put in few kit kats in my bag, so not from Belgium,” he told with a smile. Next up for Edmund will be Andreas Seppi of Italy.
Earlier the day, Jan-Lennard Struff knocked out the tournament’s number five Gilles Simon, winning 6-4, 6-4. The 26-year-old German lost his serve three times, but the broke the Frenchman five times to celebrate his first victory over Simon in his third attempt after one hour and 15 minutes. Struff will next play third seed Richard Gasquet.
Diego Schwartzman of Argentina defeated US-American teenager Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 to set a quarterfinals meeting with fourth favourite Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay.
Highlights Day 4:
