Wu Flips His Miami Script For R1 Win

Peter Staples/ATP Tour

Wu Yibing continued his ascent on Wednesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

The Chinese star defeated Briton Kyle Edmund 7-5, 7-5 to reach the second round at the ATP Masters 1000 event. This year’s Dallas Open champion will next face 31st seed Diego Schwartzman to reach the third round at this level for the first time.

"It's always good when I don't need to waste my energy on court today so I can have better preparation for the next one," said Wu of winning in straight sets before discussing Schwartzman. "He's a very good. He's up here for a really long time and I haven't really hit with him yet."

Six years ago, Wu made his Miami debut in qualifying as a 17-year-old, losing in straight sets to Jared Donaldson. In his first match at the event since, the 23-year-old broke his opponent’s serve four times to triumph after one hour and 35 minutes.

It was not an easy win, though. Wu let slip an opportunity to serve out the match at 5-3 in the second set against Edmund, who was playing his fourth match of the year. But the Chinese player did not allow the complication to fully shift the momentum to Edmund’s side. The former World No. 14, who is working back to form following injury, missed a backhand wide to fall in straight sets.

Did You Know?
This week last year, Wu was tied for No. 1,869 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. With his win against Edmund, he climbed to No. 57 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.