Britain’s No.2 Kyle Edmund has moved into the quarter-finals of the Winston Salem Open after he defeated Marton Fucsovics 6-2, 6-1 in a third round encounter.
Edmund, was forced to qualify for the tournament. He would have earned direct entry through his ranking but his late decision to play the event meant that organisers could only accommodate him with a qualifying berth. Edmund has played well this week though, staying strong to edge Daniil Medvedev yesterday before dropping just three games in the win over Fucsovics today. Edmund is still looking for his first ATP title of his career.
Edmund will play the 6th seed Steve Johnson in the quarter-finals. Johnson earned his first tour win since reaching the 3rd round of Wimbledon. He defeated Yen-Hsun Lu in the second round and Carlos Berlocq 7-6, 6-4 in the third. Johnson and Edmund have met once before with Johnson the straight sets winner in the first round of the Australian Open in 2015.
Johnson won the match with Berlocq despite a poor first serve percentage. Johnson was only serving at 44% through much of the first set yet managed to avoid losing a service game. Johnson dominated the first set tiebreak before breaking the veteran Argentine’s serve in the second for a second consecutive straight sets win.
Johnson has two career titles having won in Nottingham in 2016, and is the current holder of the Houston title.
The third early match saw another Argentine go out. Horacio Zeballos, who stunned Fernando Verdasco yesterday could not keep his fine form going. He went down 6-3, 7-5 to the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur.
