BARCELONA: Fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Kyle Edmund of Britain to advance to the third round of the Barcelona Open on Tuesday.

Thiem saved all six break points he faced against Edmund to earn his 19th victory of the year and on Thursday will meet another Briton Dan Evans, who beat Germany’s Mischa Zverev 6-4, 6-4.

The ninth-ranked Austrian won the Rio Open title in February.

Richard Gasquet’s return to court from appendix surgery was short-lived as the Frenchman lost 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) to lucky loser Yuichi Sugita of Japan.

The world number 91 lost in qualifying and was only handed a place in the main draw after compatriot Kei Nishikori’s late withdrawal with a wrist injury.

But despite blowing three match points when serving for the match at 6-5 in the third set, Sugita regained his composure to edge a final set tie-break to make the third round.

Top-seeded Andy Murray will play his second-round match against Bernard Tomic of Australia, who saw off big-serving German Dustin Brown 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Another German had a better day though as 20-year-old eighth seed Alexander Zverev saw off clay court specialist and 2013 finalist Nicolas Almagro of Spain 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-4 in the second round despite trailing 3-1 in the decisive set.

South African Kevin Anderson knocked out 13th-seeded David Ferrer of Spain 6-3, 6-4, while Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil defeated Renzo Olivo of Argentina 6-1, 6-1 to set up a second-round match against defending champion Rafael Nadal.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2017