Kyle Edmund beats Jiri Vesely in first round of Grand Prix Hassan II
Monday 16 April 2018 14:37, UK
Kyle Edmund was handed a place in the Grand Prix Hassan II second round after opponent Jiri Vesely retired when trailing the first set 5-0.
The British No 1 is getting his clay-court season underway in Marrakech and had little in the way of opposition as Vesely was forced to withdraw.
Edmund enjoyed a thrilling start this year, reaching the Australian Open semi-final in Melbourne, but a hip injury has hampered the rest of his hard-court campaign.
He has lost his two matches since defeat to Marin Cilic in Australia with a second-round defeat at both Indian Wells and Miami but he is fully fit and aiming for a strong year on his preferred surface.
Edmund, who is seeded second in Morocco, raced out of the traps with an early break against his Czech opponent and never looked back, using his fearsome forehand to break twice more for a run of five successive games before Vesely declared.
Up next for Edmund will be Italy's Andreas Seppi or Radu Albot, who meet in Wednesday's first-round matches.
Germany's Mischa Zverev is a potential quarter-final opponent for Edmund and he was a 6-3 6-4 winner over Paolo Lorenzi, with top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas dropping just three games against home wild-card Amine Ahouda.
However, two early seeds perished on day two of the main draw joining France's Benoit Paire in falling at the first hurdle.
Ukraine's seventh seed Alexandr Dolgopolov was beaten by Italian qualifier Andrea Arnaboldi in straight sets while fifth seed Robin Haase was beaten in three sets by Mirza Basic.
