The US Open champion Stan Wawrinka got his Shanghai Rolex Masters campaign off to a good start with a 6-3, 6-4 win over British rising star Kyle Edmund. The three-time grand slam champion was made to work hard at times but overall was too good for Edmund as he raced to victory in just over an hour.
Wawrinka cruised through the first set in only 24 minutes with the loss of only one point on serve, his impressive serving not allowing Edmund a look in. The world number three looked to be on his way to an easy victory as he broke to start the second set, but Edmund battled back and took three games in a row to get back on serve. Wawrinka eventually got another break at a crucial time that would leave him serving for the set. Three break points came and went for Edmund as Wawrinka fought for the hold of serve and a straight set victory.
Clinical start
The match got off to a racing start with the first three games consisting of only 13 points, all under 5 shots. After a seamless first service game, Edmund struggled in his next with errors creeping in and his first serve percentage slipping. He fought back from 15-30 down and held on to stay level at 2-2.
Wawrinka's signature shot, the one-handed backhand, was firing early and he had his second hold to love to stay ahead on the scoreboard at 3-2. Both players continued cruising through on serve and each had another love hold to take them to 4-3 after only 18 minutes.
Wawrinka's strong defense got him off to a lead on return. A couple of loose points followed for Edmund and Wawrinka finally broke through to love to serve for the set, winning 12 straight points as he took the first set 6-3 in near perfect fashion.
Competitive end
Wawrinka kept his momentum rolling into the start of the second set as he won the first two points on the Edmund serve. The Brit managed to fight back to 30-30 but Wawrinka still managed to earn himself a break point, which he took to get off to an early lead in the second. The Swiss consolidated the break with ease to cruise to a 2-0 lead.
Edmund was looking nowhere near his best as Wawrinka again was handed a 0-30 lead on return. The backhand of the world number three was punishing Edmunds short returns and again the Swiss had two break points for a 3-0 lead. A couple of uncharacteristic errors from Wawrinka tied them up at deuce, and although facing another break point, Edmund battled hard to finally get his name on the scoreboard in the second set.
The tough hold of serve proved to be crucial for Edmund as he finally had some luck on return in the following game. Errors started flooding in for Wawrinka and the Brit was starting to find his range as he was finally able to dominate with his biggest weapon, the forehand, to get a break of the Wawrinka serve at the first time of asking.
Edmund raced to 40-0 on serve, and although Wawrinka managed to battle to 40-30, Edmund handled the pressure and held on to take a 3-2 lead after being a point away from a 0-3 hole. The world number three stopped Edmund's run at three games as he held easily to tie them up at 3-3.
The Brit hit the first double fault of the match but still held his serve with ease to stay ahead on serve on the scoreboard, which Wawrinka followed with an easy hold of his own. The Swiss started to defend extremely well in the next game, and with the help of the injection of pace with the backhand, he earned himself a break point. Wawrinka didn't have to do much to take the break point as Edmund hit a forehand wide to seal the break that would allow him to serve for the match.
Edmund began the next game very aggressively to take a lead on return, and Wawrinka hit a forehand wide to give the Brit two break points. The world number three managed to claw his way back to deuce, but a deep return from Edmund drew the error into the net from Wawrinka to earn another break point. big unreturnable serve saved the break point and a bad forehand error from Edmund gave Wawrinka his first match point. The Swiss closed down the net to take it and seal the match, 6-3, 6-4.