Edmund bows out as Djokovic ends his Paris run revival

Kyle Edmund’s Paris revival came to an end at the hands of Novak Djokovic yesterday.

The British No 3 had posted back-to-back wins after arriving at the Rolex Paris Masters on an eight-match losing streak that stretched back to August, but he came up against formidable opposition in Djokovic, the 16-time grand slam winner coming through their third-round match in style, winning 7-6 (7), 6-1 for his 50th victory of 2019.

Edmund, whose ranking has crashed into the 70s, put up a fight in the first set and will still see this as a positive week as he hopes for a Davis Cup call from captain Leon Smith.

The 24-year-old hurt Djokovic with some fearsome forehand winners early on and saved two set points to send the opener to a tie-break. He had to save four more in the decider, before the Serb eventually took the set to go in front, seemingly breaking the spirit of Edmund who crumbled in the second.

An early Djokovic break of serve to love set the tone and he powered through six successive games to book a last-16 meeting with Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Meanwhile, world No 1 Ashleigh Barty marched into the last four of the WTA Tour finals with a straight-sets win over Petra Kvitova in Shenzhen.

Barty, who has already ensured she will finish the year on top of the rankings, produced a businesslike performance to see off her Czech rival 6-4, 6-2.

It was Barty’s third consecutive win over Kvitova, having lost each of their first four meetings.

Barty said: “It’s a challenge that I love and thrive on. I think each time I’ve played Petra, I’ve become a better player having learned from what happenedthroughthatmatch.”

Belinda Bencic joined Barty in the last four when Kiki Bertens was forced to retire midway through their match due to illness.

The Dutch player trailed 7-5, 1-0 before she withdrew citing stomach problems and dizziness, and allowing Bencic to advance as the Red Group runner-up.