Sixth-seeded Briton Kyle Edmund struck nine aces and lost just two of his first-service points to beat Australian Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-2 in 62 minutes on Tuesday at the Chengdu Open. Tomic has played just once (US Open) since a Wimbledon first-round exit on 4 July. Edmund will now challenge #NextGenATP American Jared Donaldson in the second round.

Serbian Dusan Lajovic set up a second-round encounter against second seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas after he beat another Spaniard, qualifier Adrian Menendez-Maceiras, 6-3, 7-6(3) in 75 minutes. Elsewhere, Yen-Hsun Lu, a winner of a record 29 ATP Challenger Tour titles, defeated Swede Mikael Ymer 6-2, 6-3 and now plays fourth seed and this season’s Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag champion Andrey Rublev of Russia.

Uzbekistani Denis Istomin converted one of his 13 break point opportunities to beat Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 6-3, 7-6(3) in one hour and 46 minutes. He now faces #NextGenATP Russian third seed Karen Khachanov, who joined Americans Jared Donaldson and Taylor Fritz on Tuesday for a visit to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

Argentine Guido Pella, a finalist at the BMW Open by FWU in Munich earlier this year, saved all three break points to beat #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric 6-4, 7-6(2). Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, who lost in the Moselle Open semi-finals (l. to Paire) last week, beat seventh seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 and now faces Fritz. 

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Three #NextGenATP players, Karen Khachanov, Jared Donaldson and Taylor Fritz, all visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

The trio, who are competing at the Chengdu Open, saw giant baby and red pandas during their morning trip and were definitely smitten by the cuddly animals, especially Donaldson, who came prepared with a variety of panda trivia.

“Did you know that China owns the rights to every panda in the world, except two? Those two are in Mexico,” said Donaldson. “My mum would be very happy that I got this opportunity to go out and see the pandas.”

Fritz said, “We got to see all kinds of pandas and it’s really cool to see what Chengdu is famous for. We travel so much, so we need to be able to go out and explore a bit.”

Khachanov said, “I really enjoyed this trip, it’s nice to see something outside of the tournament and spend some time with the locals and off the court. We’re really thankful for this. The panda is my favourite animal now!”

Jeremy Chardy saved two set points in the opening set on Monday before eliminating Italian Alessandro Giannessi, 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour, 53 minutes at the Shenzhen Open. The Frenchman will attempt to reach his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season against the winner of fifth-seeded Donald Young and the youngest player in the draw, #NextGenATP 17-year-old Nicola Kuhn.

ATP World Tour veteran Steve Darcis ended the hometown hopes of Ze Zhang 7-5, 7-6(3). The 27-year-old Zhang, who captured his first ATP Challenger Tour title earlier this year in San Francisco, broke the Belgian immediately and earned four more break points in Darcis’ second service game. From 1-4 down, World No. 77 won six of the next seven games, saving four set points on his serve at 4-5, to claim the opening set.

While Darcis earned the first break of the second set and held for a 4-2 lead, Zhang fought back and forced a tie-break. But from 2-2, the third-oldest player to debut in the Top 40 of the Emirates ATP Rankings (No. 38 in May 2017) won five of the final six points to clinch the victory against the wild card.

In the only other singles contest of the day in Shenzhen, Dudi Sela used an 18-minute opening set to catapult past qualifier Matthew Ebden, 6-0, 7-6(8), in their second career meeting. The Israeli saved four set points in the second set tie-break to squeak past the Australian.

Three seeded players will begin their campaigns at the event on Tuesday.

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