Edmund Survives Gojowczyk Challenge In Atlanta

Fifth seed Kyle Edmund moved into this third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season on Thursday at the BB&T Atlanta Open, rallying from a set down to defeat the red-hot Peter Gojowczyk 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. 

“I was really pleased to get through that,” said Edmund. “He was hitting really cleanly in the first set and I wasn’t able to get into many points. I’ve been in Atlanta quite awhile to get used to the conditions, so it’s nice to get wins under your belt and get some momentum for the rest of this hard-court swing.”

Gojowczyk, a semi-finalist last week in Newport, led by a break at 3-2 in the deciding set, but Edmund fought back to prevail after two hours of play. Both of the Brit’s previous quarter-finals this year also came on hard-courts in Brisbane and Delray Beach. Next up for Edmund is top seed Jack Sock or Dudi Sela.

Fourth seed Ryan Harrison saved a match point to survive a marathon 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 7-5 encounter with John Millman. The American saved the match point on his serve at 3-5 in the second set, then blasted a pair of return winners en route to breaking Millman in the next game. He secured the lone break of the final set at 5-5, ultimately knocking off a volley winner on his first match point to advance in two hours and 45 minutes.

“I love it here. I grew up playing all the Southern tournaments and being here feels as close to home as it gets,” said Harrison. “Everybody from the crowd to the DJ is willing to step up and help pull you through when you are down a set and a break.

“I would put today’s match in the category of mental maturity,” he added. “One of the things I’ve been focusing on in the past 12 months is understanding that bad things are going to happen, but I’m pretty sure I would have gone down in that match 12 months ago. I think my energy level, the crowd and the way I was able to stay positive helped get me through it.”

Harrison made his first Atlanta semi-final at the age of 19 in 2011, then repeated that feat in 2013. He’s enjoying a career-best season, winning his first ATP World Tour singles title this February in Memphis (d. Basilashvili) and reaching a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 40 earlier this month.

Awaiting Harrison in the quarter-finals is eighth seed and #NextGenATP American Jared Donaldson or wildcard Christopher Eubanks. Harrison has never played Eubanks, but won his lone FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting with Donaldson this May at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome.