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Kyle Edmund in the second round of the Nature Valley International, ATP Eastbourne 2018
Kyle Edmund in the second round of the Nature Valley International, ATP Eastbourne 2018 | (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images for LTA)

ATP Beijing 2018 | Edmund wins opener to set up Berrettini test

Jake Davies
Tennis

By Jake Davies

  • Kyle Edmund [5] defeats Peter Gojowczyk 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
  • Kyle Edmund [5] vs Matteo Berrettini
BEIJING, CHINA – Kyle Edmund clawed his way back after a slow start as he recovered to a very good level to beat Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk in the China Open first round.

 

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Kyle Edmund [5] def. Peter Gojowczyk 3-6, 6-1, 6-2

At the beginning of the match the usual confidence and measured approach to Kyle Edmund’s play was not quite there. Edmund started the match by getting broken in his opening service game and he was facing a dangerous opponent in Peter Gojowczyk, who really can roll through his service games when you give him a break lead to work with.

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The German’s serve and big forehand combination was working a treat in the opening set, but Edmund showed the extra levels he can really go to when he puts his game together and he responded in the way that he has throughout a lot of his breakthrough season as he broke serve three times in the second set and continued the dominance in the 3rd set, dropping just the two more games and breaking a further two times.

This was Edmund’s first competitive tour match since losing to Paolo Lorenzi in the opening round of the US-Open, so there would have been a bit of trepidation and anxiety in returning to a competitive match-court, but Edmund soon got rid of any rust or hesitation and looked very good in closing his first win of the Asian swing.

 

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Edmund vs Matteo Berrettini | H2H: First meeting

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The second round opponent for Edmund is Italy’s Matteo Berrettini. The Italian player really has experienced his best year on tour throughout this 2018 season. After capturing his first tour-level title in Gstaad earlier this year, Berrettini rose to a career high of No.54 in the world and is playing some of the tennis of his career.

Berrettini enjoys playing a lot of tennis on the red clay and at the tournaments at high altitude and those are the events where he has achieved his greater success. He’s very different to a lot of your typical Italian players as he has a huge first serve delivery and likes to take control of the points very early on in the rally, and usually does just that with a deceptively easy motion on a strong forehand side.

On a fast, slick hard court in Beijing, Edmund and Berrettini really will be fighting for court control very early in the rally and the player that is able to seize the initiative, and get their bigger forehand into play more often than not, will have a very good chance of taking a very big win.

The two players have played on just the one occasion and that came on the clay courts of Rome back in 2015 at a Challenger event. This will be the first time the two meet at tour-level.

Prediction: Edmund in three sets

Edmund & Berrettini are scheduled on the Lotus Court, not before 2:30pm, (7:30am BST).

 

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