THE skies above Eastbourne were the frontline in the original Battle of Britain so it was appropriate this sleepy south coast tourist resort should witness a re-enactment of sorts on a tennis court yesterday. Kyle Edmund was born in Johannesburg but in every other way he is a product of Beverly, Yorkshire, who since March has been fully entitled to call himself Britain’s No 1 male tennis player. That title was once assumed to be Andy Murray’s birthright but on this evidence right now that state of play is fair enough.

This was only Murray’s third match back after 11 months out with a serious hip problem, but that wasn’t the only reason there was a novelty factor for the Scot as he went into this second-round match at Devonshire Park. While Edmund – aka ‘Kedders’ - is a friend and Davis Cup colleague who has been a recipient of invites out to conduct a couple of training blocks with the Scot out in Miami – how he must have been thankful for that here – it was unheard of Murray to go in as an outsider against a player from these isles.

This 6-4, 6-4 triumph sees him join just five other players in the list of Brits who have ever taken the Scot’s scalp in a Tour level match, and means he is the first to do so since Tim Henman at the 2006 Thailand Open. The others are homegrown unknowns Matthew Smith, David Sherwood and Thomas Greenland and Mark Hilton, a member of his own coaching team. It is he who goes on to face Mikhail Kukushkin at the quarter final stage.

It wasn’t all about the result, of course, for the Scot just yet. Playing just 48 hours after making short work of Stan Wawrinka in the first round, the 31-year-old’s first priority is just playing pain free after what has been a frustrating rehab from hip surgery in January. As his mum Judy said yesterday, he is still ‘dipping his toe in the water’ when it comes to discerning if his movement will be sufficient to tackle Wimbledon, which starts on Monday.

Having said that, it is precisely Murray’s competitive instincts – not to mention his exquisite skills with a tennis racquet – which makes him such a formidable sportsperson. The Eastbourne crowd were treated to quite an exhibition, as the Scot and the Englishman smashed a little yellow ball to smithereens.

If Murray isn’t the same player yet that he was 12 months ago, neither is Edmund. The 23-year-old, who was just knocking on the door of the world’s top 50 when Murray limped out of action against Sam Querrey at SW19, made it all the way to semi-finals of the Australian Open back in January and has now risen to the heady heights of World No 18. These two men might both have gone down to Nick Kyrgios in three sets at Queen’s Club, but it was Edmund who was named in the list of seeds yesterday for SW19, not the two-time Wimbledon winner.

This match began with a demonstration of precisely how far the 23-year-old has come. Starting with a double fault, Murray watched a driven Edmund pass which flicked off the top of the net fly past him, before a running backhand down the line which could have stolen directly from the Scot’s manual led to a service break in the opening game of the match. Always blessed with one of the most vengeful forehands in the game, Edmund’s backhand has improved immensely in the last 12 months.

So too has his serve. While the Scot was striking the ball well – at points his slice backhand was dragging his opponent around court on a string – the pace and vigour of the younger man was proving too much. Showing the confidence from a strong year on the tour, Edmund held serve in the very next game from 0-40 down but his serve was generally functioning fluently, limiting the former World No 1 to very few openings.

Serving for the set at 5-4, Edmund could have done without the disruption of a car or house alarm from the nearby residential area but the alarm bells were ringing clearest for Murray. The Scot had no answer when a second set ace down the T gave him the opening set 6-4.

If the atmosphere was hardly fever pitch throughout, Murray attempted to get them back off their seats at the start of the second set. In a predicament when two break points down at 1-1, he brought the energy back and reeled off four straight points. It wasn’t able to disrupt the Englishman’s rhythm for long, though, the 23-year-old exerting pressure on the Scot’s serve and eventually getting the breakthrough to take a 3-2 lead. While Murray is endeavouring to come to the net more often to finish points quicker, that tactic wasn’t working here. A couple of dazzling Edmund passing shots whistled past him as his second set lead became a double break.

Murray was starting to look leggy, his recent exertions unsurprisingly catching up with him. But, as his wont, fought to the last, delighting the crowd with a service break to keep things going a while longer, as Edmund’s level suffered a small dip at last. The respite was temporary, though, leaving the Scot with much to think about as he ponders whether or not he is ready to face an examination over five sets at Wimbledon.