#NextGen star Kyle Edmund reached his third ATP World Tour quarter-final on Wednesday at the China Open as he ousted seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 11 minutes.
The 21-year-old Briton has enjoyed a breakthrough season, with quarter-finals in Doha and The Queen’s Club before beating Richard Gasquet and John Isner en route to the US Open fourth round (l. to Djokovic).
Edmund will face top seed Andy Murray in an all-British quarter-final clash.
Fifth seed David Ferrer is also through to the quarter-finals after dismissing Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4. The Spaniard, who finished runner-up at this ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tournament in 2010 (l. to Djokovic), is bidding to reach his first final of the season. He moved one step closer as he maintained his perfect record over Fognini, improving to an 11-0 mark in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. He lost just 10 points on serve and broke the Italian twice from nine opportunities.
In remaining first-round action carried over from a rainy Tuesday, eighth seed Gasquet opened his campaign with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Sam Querrey. The Frenchman will face Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, who lost only six points on serve as he dismissed Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-1 in just 48 minutes.
Second seed Rafael Nadal will begin his quest for a second China Open crown against Adrian Mannarino after the French qualifier battled past last week’s Chengdu Open runner-up, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Third seed Milos Raonic will face Malek Jaziri, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Guido Pella.
After being drawn into a third set by American Steve Johnson, Grigor Dimitrov held on for a 7-5, 6-7(9), 6-4 first-round victory. The Bulgarian held four match points in the second set tie-break, but could not convert as Johnson fought back to force a decider. Johnson saved six break points over the course of the third set, but ultimately succumbed in the ninth game and Dimitrov served out the match to love in two hours and 44 minutes.