Daniil Medvedev's winning streak comes to an end; Alexander Zverev begins with impressive win
Tuesday 29 October 2019 22:11, UK
Kyle Edmund returned to winning ways for the first time since August by beating Ricardas Berankis 6-4 6-3 to reach the Paris Masters second round.
The British No 2 put almost three months of misery behind him to dispatch the Lithuanian in 80 minutes, setting up a meeting with 14th seed Diego Schwartzman in the last 32.
Edmund has slumped to 75 in the world rankings following a miserable run that had seen him lose eight matches in succession since a first-round victory over Nick Kyrgios at the Montreal Masters.
However, in the final tournament of the regular ATP season, Edmund ensured his year would have at least one more win by seeing off Berankis although there was time for a wobble with the winning post in sight.
After taking the first set, the 24-year-old raced into a 5-0 lead in the second before Berankis held serve and then broke to reduce the deficit. The Lithuanian qualifier then took a third game in succession before Edmund finally got over the finishing line for an overdue victory.
I've tried very hard not to feel sorry for myself.
He told Amazon Prime Video: "For a lot of weeks my focus has just been winning my next match.
"I've been through a few disappointing weeks so it's nice. I'm through now, and this was the last tournament of the season so if you don't win it's another two months and a lot of time waiting and thinking for the next match.
"You find out a little bit about yourself and how you react to things. You're the one that has to get out of the rut, and I was very aware of that. I've tried very hard not to feel sorry for myself."
Edmund and Cameron Norrie are battling for the last remaining spot in the Great Britain Davis Cup team and Edmund's return to winning ways could put him in the box seat to join Andy Murray, Dan Evans and doubles pair Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski.
Norrie saw his season brought to an end with first-round defeat on Monday in Paris, the British No 3 was beaten in straight sets by Canada's Milos Raonic who moves on to a showdown with Dominic Thiem.
Following Roger Federer's withdrawal from the event, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic enter the action on Wednesday as they renew their battle to finish the year as world No 1.
Daniil Medvedev's streak of six consecutive finals was ended by Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. The world No 4 went down to the qualifier 4-6 6-2 6-4.
Alexander Zverev, who won last season's ATP Finals and is bidding to take one of the remaining two slots for this year's event with a strong showing in Paris, eased past Spain's Fernando Verdasco 6-1 6-3 in the last match of the day.
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