Kyle Edmund suffers second-round defeat to Jared Donaldson in Chengdu Open
Wednesday 27 September 2017 13:15, UK
British No 2 Kyle Edmund is out of the Chengdu Open having been beaten by young American Jared Donaldson in the second round.
After suffering a blistering 6-0 reverse in the first set, Edmund responded with a dominant set of his own to take the second 6-1 and force a decider.
The tight final set went the way of the 20-year-old Donaldson, however, who progressed to the quarter-finals after a 6-0 1-6 6-4 victory.
Sixth seed Edmund, ranked 12 places higher than his opponent in the world at 46, paid for a poor first-serve percentage, with Donaldson profiting on the Brit's second delivery and converting his third match point.
Edmund made his first return since retiring from the US Open with a back injury in the first round in China, comfortably dispatching Australian Bernard Tomic 6-4 6-2.
Having been particularly dominant on first serve, winning 23 of 25 points and hitting nine aces, the 22-year-old was unable to replicate such form in his meeting with Donaldson.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, fifth seed Yuichi Sugita booked his place in the last eight after a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Brazilian Thiago Monteiro, but the tournament's second and third seeds were not so lucky.
Dusan Lajovic triumphed 6-2 6-3 against No 2 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas, while third seed Karen Khachanov was dumped out by Denis Istomin in straight sets.
German Peter Gojowczyk beat Leonardo Mayer 6-2 6-2 fresh from his first career ATP title at the Moselle Open.
