Mixed fortunes for Aljaz Bedene and Kyle Edmund in Nottingham
Tuesday 23 June 2015 15:43, UK
British No 2 Aljaz Bedene made it through to the second round of the AEGON Open in Nottingham where he beat Diego Schwartzman in three sets.
The 25-year-old Slovenia-born player, who was granted UK citizenship in March of this year, won 6-1 6-7 (7-5) 6-2 and will now face the No 8 seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
However, Bedene made it hard for himself after throwing away a 5-0 lead in the second set tie-break.
Yet he responded superbly breaking early in the decider, before clinching victory on his second match point.
It was not such a good day for Britain’s No 3 Kyle Edmund who was beaten in two tie-break sets by Malek Jaziri.
In a match interrupted by rain – that included a break of 90 minutes – the 20-year-old wildcard lost 7-6 (7/4) 7-6 (7/5).
Both players missed chances to break in the opening set, with Edmund even holding a set point in the 12th game.
Edmund also held a 3-2 lead in the tie-break, before losing five of the last six points.
In the second set, he then threw away a 4-2 advantage but managed to stave off four match points to set up another tie-break.
Once again he led – at 4-3 – but was unable to deny the Tunisian who clinched a hard fought triumph on his sixth match point.
Jaziri now faces Austrian No 7 seed Dominic Thiem in round two.
The top seeds are in action on Tuesday, with David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and Gilles Simon all starting their title challenges. Ferrer faces Marcos Baghdatis in the headline match.
