Edmund keeps up fine run in Rome
● British No 1 beats Jaziri despite scare in second set with Konta also through
Kyle Edmund continued his fine run of form on clay as he overcame Malek Jaziri to book his place in the second round of the Italian Open in Rome.
The British No 1, who beat Novak Djokovic and David Goffin en route to the quarterfinals in Madrid last week, was forced to battle for his 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 success.
Having cracked the world’s top 20 for the first time this week as a result of his Madrid heroics, Edmund was always going to be full of confidence on a surface he regards as one of his favourites.
But Tunisian Jaziri was never going to prove a pushover, with the talented but erratic world No 64 having reached the final of the Istanbul Open last month.
Edmund was forced to save break points in his opening service game but hit back to break Jaziri for a 4-2 lead and maintained his advantage to seize the first set.
Jaziri was not going to roll over, and broke Edmund in the fourth game of the second set, proceeding to fight off two break points on his own serve before levelling the match.
Edmund kept his nerve to grab the solitary break of the decisive set and move through to round two, where he will come up against either Andreas Seppi or 16th seed Lucas Pouille.
Former world No 1 Djokovic got back to winning ways with a 6-1, 6-3 first-round victory over Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Djokovic, a four-time winner of the Rome event, has slumped to No 18 in the world rankings after last week’s defeat to Edmund in Madrid as he continues to struggle after his return from an elbow injury. but the 30-year-old showed real signs of recovery in the way he dominated against Dolgopolov.
The Serb broke four times and only facing one break point on his own serve as he wrapped up the match in just 56 minutes.
Djokovic told atptour.com: “The last three or four weeks have been better on the practice courts and in matches.
“Today’s match encourages me to move forward and hopefully I can get a few more matches in Rome than I have in the last couple of months.”
Earlier, Johanna Konta made it safely through to the second round of the women’s event by beating Magdalena Rybarikova in straight sets.
A week on from knocking Rybarikova out at the same stage of the Madrid Open, Konta claimed a 6-4, 6-3 victory over the 17th seed in one hour and 48 minutes.
Konta had been due to play Petra Kvitova in Rome only for the Czech to pull out after winning back-to-back titles in Prague and Madrid. The unseeded British No 1 will play Hsieh Su-wei or Aryna Sabalenka in the next round.
Konta, who has not reached the quarter-finals of a tournament since early January in Brisbane, displayed impressive resilience in the first set to secure back-to-back breaks after losing her serve in the seventh game.
The world No 22 fell a break down again in the second set but dug deep to win the big points as she reeled off four straight games for a moraleboosting victory.