The World No.62 defeated Japan's Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-5 6-4 in one hour and 44 minutes, converting three break points in the process.
Edmund faces Dominik Koepfer in the second round, as the German defeated Canadian wild card Brayden Schnur 7-5 6-4. Schnur was hoping to go one better this week in New York, having lost to American Reilly Opelka in the final last year.
Cameron Norrie was also in action, fighting past American Brian Shi 7-5 6-3. The young Brit next faces Taiwanese qualifier Jason Jung, who upset South African Kevin Anderson 7-6(6) 6-4. Jung withstood 17 aces from the towering Anderson, breaking his opponent twice to win the match in an hour and 28 minutes.
Australian Jordan Thompson also withstood a barrage of aces from Croatia's Ivo Karlovic, toppling the giant 6-3 7-6(2) in an hour and 23 minutes. It doesn't get much easier in the next round, as he faces another giant in top-seeded American John Isner. Regardless, Thompson will be out for revenge as Isner defeated him in the quarterfinals in the same event last year.
South Korea's Soonwoo Kwon defeated Japanese qualifier Go Soeda 6-2 6-7(2) 6-3 to set up a second round meeting with second-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic.
Italian qualifier Paolo Lorenzi prevailed against Serbian qualifier Danilo Petrovic 4-6 6-4 6-0. He now faces another Serbian in sixth seed Miomir Kecmanovic, who made the semifinals in Doha earlier this year.
Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka battled past Swiss Henri Laaksonen 6-3 0-6 6-2 in an hour and 37 minutes. He will meet third seed and defending champion Reilly Opelka for a spot in the quarterfinals.
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