Bedene advances in Istanbul, Edmund out in Estoril

 

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By Jake Davies

  • Aljaz Bedene defeats Marton Fucsovics [WC] 7-6 (3) 4-6 6-4
  • Bedene now faces top seeded Milos Raonic in Istanbul second round
  • Kyle Edmund loses dramatic first round match to Portuguese qualifier
ISTANBUL & ESTORIL – Aljaz Bedene continued his great form on the clay, but Kyle Edmund might be ruing his first round loss in Estoril.

 

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Aljaz Bedene defeats Marton Fucsovics [WC] 7-6 (3) 4-6 6-4

Aljaz Bedene‘s opener in Istanbul proved to be a really tough challenge as Hungarian wild card Marton Fucsovics took the Briton to the distance before losing 6-4 in the 3rd. It was the first time these two players had played each other since a Challenger final back in 2014, but this was the first meeting at this level on the ATP tour.

Bedene has now won 24 of his last 26 matches on both the ATP tour and the Challenger tour and is one of the most in-form players inside the Top 100, which is good to see from one of the four British talents that feature in the Top 60.

 

Bedene vs Milos Raonic [1] H2H: First meeting

Milos Raonic will be Bedene’s second round opponent in Istanbul. It is the first meeting between the two, but Bedene will have watched Raonic’s ascension to the Top 10 and recognised what areas of the Canadian’s game has improved dramatically and other areas where Raonic can still improve.

Raonic has always been noted as a big server with an exceptionally overwhelming game, but since his journey to the Wimbledon final last year, we have witnessed a vast improvement in Raonic’s net play and his return of serve.

Clay is Bedene’s favourite surface, but I think Raonic will be incredibly hungry to gain some momentum and salvage some valuable match-play this week in Istanbul as the top seed.

Prediction: Raonic in two sets

 

Joao Domingues [Q] defeats Kyle Edmund [7] 6-4 3-6 7-6 (2)

The World No.242, Joao Domingues, has won a lot of matches inside the last twelve months at the lower levels of the sport, but the Portuguese qualifier demonstrated that those matches still count for everything as he came back from 5-2 down in the third set and saved two match points to beat the 22-year-old Kyle Edmund in a three-sets win at the Millennium Estoril Open.

This win marks the first time that Domingues has scored an ATP win, having gained great confidence from matches on the Futures circuit.

 

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