The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Edmund sets up clash with Djokovic in Paris
Kyle Edmund continued his upturn in form with a straight-sets win over Diego Schwartzman at the Rolex Paris Masters to book a showdown with world No 1 Novak Djokovic.
The British No 3 had ended an eight-match losing streak with victory over qualifier Ricardas Berankis in the first round, and maintained momentum to dispatch 14th seed Schwartzman 7-5 6-3.
There were no early break chances with the opening set going on serve as Edmund moved 6-5 ahead.
But world No 15 Schwartzman soon found himself facing a set point against his serve. He saved it, yet a double fault then gifted Edmund the break.
Edmund – down to 75 in the rankings on the back of his dip in form – remained on the offensive in the second set, quickly forcing through a break chance and then a hold to open up a 4-1 advantage.
Schwartzman, runner-up to Dominic Thiem in last week’s Erste Bank Open, reduced the deficit to 3-5 before the Briton closed out an impressive win in one hour and 18 minutes.
“It was a really good performance,” Edmund said.
Top seed Djokovic had earlier ended the hopes of French lucky loser Corentin Moutet with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 victory.
Edmund’s performance has also boosted his chances of making the Great Britain team for the Davis Cup finals next month.
Captain Leon Smith, watching courtside in Paris, is set to choose between the 24-year-old and Cam Norrie for his fifth player.
Defending champion Elina Svitolina booked her place in the last four at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen with a straight-sets win over Simona Halep.
She overcame the Romanian 7-5 6-3 in one hour and 39 minutes to add to Monday’s win over Karolina Pliskova in the Purple Group.
The Ukrainian’s victory gave her some degree of revenge for the one-sided beating she suffered at the hands of Halep in this year’s Wimbledon semi-finals.
Svitolina made a lightning start as she swept into a 3-0 lead but was hauled back by Halep, who then missed an opportunity to go a break up.
Gaining confidence on her own serve, Svitolina then grabbed her chance to take the lead when she broke Halep to love to win the first set.
Halep grabbed the first break in the second set, but Svitolina hit back twice and then survived two break points on her way to serving out for an impressive victory.
Bianca Andreescu will await the results of a scan on a knee injury before deciding if she can continue in the tournament after retiring midway through her match against Pliskova.
Andreescu required a medical time-out in the third game of the match after stretching for a point and was forced to retire after Pliskova took the first set 6-3.