Aljaz Bedene beaten in Casablanca quarter-finals
Friday 10 April 2015 22:18, UK
New British No 2 Aljaz Bedene was unable to sustain his strong run since switching allegiance from Slovenia, crashing out of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca at the quarter-final stage.
The world No 99 had breezed past fellow-qualifier Arthur De Greef of Belgium in a 70-minute, straight-sets victory to set up his quarter-final clash against Jiri Vesely, but the young Czech proved too strong for him.
Vesely breezed past Bedene 6-1 6-4 to reach the final four and tee up a clash with Spanish veteran Daniel Gimeno Traver.
The 21-year-old rising Czech star put paid to Bedene's good start to life under the official British banner, after the London-based 25-year-old changed nationality last month.
Vesely saw off Mikhail Youzhny on Thursday despite all of his luggage being lost in transit from Rome and him having to borrow kit from doubles partner Frantisek Cermak.
That victory ended a seven-match losing streak, and he continued his resurgence to sweep past Bedene without many problems.
Vesely's next opponent Gimeno-Traver dropped just six points on his first serve in a 6-4 6-3 victory over Lamine Ouahab.
Second seed Martin Klizan saw off Nicolas Almagro 6-4 7-6, denying his Spanish opponent a 250th career win on clay, and he will face Damir Dzumhur next after the Bosnian eased past sixth seed Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-3 6-3.
