Edmund to next face experienced Italian Andreas Seppi in second round
Wednesday 10 October 2018 07:46, UK
British No 1 Kyle Edmund built on rising to his career-highest ranking with a straight-sets victory against Filip Krajinovic to reach the Shanghai Masters second round.
The 23-year-old moved to world No 14 on Monday after a run to the China Open semi-finals last week and continued his encouraging form in Asia with a 7-5 6-3 win over the world No 35 from Serbia.
Edmund has battled against injury and illness during the season and will next meet Italian Andreas Seppi, who the 11th seed beat on his way to the Australian Open last four.
The Briton had his serve broken in the third game of the match and saved a further three break points in the eighth game to avoid falling a double break down.
He then recovered the deficit to get to 4-4 before a second break saw him secure the first set in the pair's first encounter.
Edmund faced further early pressure on his serve but maintained his grip on proceedings by mixing his hard-hitting baseline game with some strong serving.
After a backhand winner down the line secured a crucial break, Edmund maintained his composure to close out the match with an assured service hold.
Meanwhile, China Open champion Nikoloz Basilashvili maintained his rich vein of form with a dominant 6-2 6-2 victory against Denis Shapovalov.
The world No 23 from Georgia will next face world No 5 Alexander Zverev, who received a bye straight into the second round.
Richard Gasquet set up a meeting with third seed Juan Martin del Potro after a comeback 1-6 6-2 6-1 victory against Leonardo Mayer.
We have every major tennis event covered from all angles via our website skysports.com/tennis. On the move? Head to our app for mobile devices and iPad, or follow our Twitter account @SkySportsTennis to join in the conversation.
Tennis is back on Sky Sports screens with the Japan Open & China Open in October while we will also have coverage of the ATP Finals in November with every match live on Sky Sports.
