By Niall Clarke
- Aljaz Bedene defeats Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets
- The British number two came through 6-3, 6-3
- He will face Hyeon Chung in round two
Shenzhen, China- British number two Aljaz Bedene defeated Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets to advance to the second round of the Shenzhen open.
The Seventh seed defeated the world number 91 6-3, 6-3 and will play 19 year old Hyeon Chung in round two.
The Brit would find success on the second serve of the Russian, and would break immediately. Youzhny did manage to level the score though not for long as Bedene re-established his lead straight away.
The second set would start with another break for the world number 55, and a fourth break sealed a comfortable victory for the Slovenian born Brit.
Bedene will face highly touted Korean teenager, Chung, in the second round. The world number 58 came through 6-1, 6-0 over Di Wu.
Chung has mainly applied his trade on the challenger tour this season, but he has scored some good wins on tour level. He also gave Stan Wawrinka a test at the US Open earlier in the year.
Bedene meanwhile is continuing his good form this year which may see him finish inside the top 50 for the first time in his career.
Elsewhere, fifth seed Adrian Mannarino beat his French compatriot Lucas Pouille 6-0, 6-3 while the sixth seed Jiri Vesely also won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2 against Zhang Ze.
Victor Estrella Burgos fought back to defeat Matthew Ebden 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, Lukas Rosol was a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 victor against Denis Istomin and Simone Bolelli enjoyed a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) win over Andreas Haider-Maurer.
Tomas Berdych is the top seed in the event taking place in China this week, whilst 2014 US Open champion, Marin Cilic, is seeded second.
Bedene will face Chung on Thursday.
| FOLLOW BRITWATCH | |
| Vine |