Kyle Edmund makes winning start at Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech
Tuesday 9 April 2019 14:45, UK
British No 1 Kyle Edmund made a winning start to his latest title bid at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech on Monday.
Edmund, who reached his first ATP final at this tournament last year, began his quest at the 250 clay-court event with a solid 6-3 6-2 success against Frenchman Ugo Humbert as he looks to break into the world's top 20 with a good run this week.
The third seed, who lost out to Pablo Andujar in the final 12 months ago, will be determined to go one better this time, and he made a positive start to his campaign by winning 77 per cent of his first serve points, and 83 per cent of his second serve points to come through in 79 minutes against the world No 63.
He will now face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who has bounced back from knee surgery after making short work of Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-1 7-6 (7-3).
The Frenchman, 33, was laid low by injury for seven months last year and reached the second round of the season-opening Grand Slam in Melbourne at the start of 2019.
On the clay in Marrakech, Tsonga was too good for German Stebe, defeating him in an hour and 21 minutes.
The day's other ties saw Daniel Taro beat Mischa Zverev in less than an hour 6-3 6-0, fourth seed Gilles Simon beat Jozef Kovalik 6-4 3-1 and Guido Andreozzi beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
Across the Atlantic at the US Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston, Texas, fifth seed Taylor Fritz fell to Marcel Granollers-Pujol 6-2 4-6 6-2 and will go on to meet Bernard Tomic, who saw off Denis Kudla in straight sets 7-6 (10-8) 7-5.
Other winners included Ivo Karlovic who overcame Ryan Harrison 6-3 6-4, Casper Ruud who defeated Hugo Dellien 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 and Christian Garin who defeated Pablo Cuevas 4-6 6-4 6-2.
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