Aljaz Bedene wins qualifying match at Casablanca Open
Saturday 4 April 2015 16:35, UK
Aljaz Bedene has won his first match since becoming a British citizen after the Slovenian-born player won in the opening round of qualifying for the Casablanca Open.
Bedene, the 25-year-old who has lived in the United Kingdom for seven years and is now a citizen, claimed a 6-3 6-2 victory over Maxime Chazal of France on the clay in Morocco.
Ranked 83rd in the world, Bedene is now the British No 2 behind Andy Murray, and described his first match as a British player as "awesome".
"It's taken a while to get to this, but it's awesome to see," he said on Twitter.
"Happy to get the first match out of the way. Was solid to be fair and more to come which is always good. Looking forward to the next one. Thanks for all the support and love guys, I feel really lucky."
Bedene will now face either Michael Linzer of Austria or France's Maxime Texeira in the next round.
