Kyle Edmund was not too keen on his shocking pink kit but very happy with his tennis after pulling off the best victory of his career against US Open finalist Kevin Anderson at the Australian Open.
It looked a horrible draw for Britain’s only male singles player but he stepped up superbly in the absence of Andy Murray.
Seven months after losing to Anderson in five sets in the third round of the French Open, Edmund recovered from two sets to one down to win 6-7 (4/7) 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Edmund had a bad habit in 2017 of losing close matches but was near faultless at the big moments and clinched victory on his first match point after three hours and 59 minutes.
The 23-year-old said: “It’s a really good result for me. It was great to win at the end like that. There’s so many positives. Just getting through a tough match like that. Also a quality player. He had a good year last year, started this year really well.
“I’m just happy going down a set, coming back. Just overall, personal satisfaction, the hours you put in, training etc, so many things like that. Those type of results make it just really feel good, worth it basically.”
The margins are wafer thin against a big server like 6ft 8in Anderson and Edmund knew if he wanted to win he would have to take the chances he got.
In the first set it was the South African who did that, winning the final two points of the tie-break on Edmund’s serve.
But the British number two hit back, stepping up impressively to break in the sixth game of the second set and serving it out confidently.
A short rain break in set three helped Anderson claim the only break but Edmund made a flying start to the fourth set, breaking for 2-0 and then recovering from 0-40 in the next game.
He looked in trouble when Anderson moved 2-0 ahead in the decider but pumped his fist and roared after breaking back straight away.
And it was Edmund who held his game together better in cool and windy conditions, breaking again to lead 4-3 and serving out the victory to love.
Edmund took great satisfaction from the progress he has made since their clash at Roland Garros, where it was he who had led by two sets to one only for Anderson to come back.
He said: “I’ve been open about it. I lost a lot of close ones last year. I wanted to do better this year, especially against those top guys.“It’s a good measure eight months on that I’m beating him in five now. I was a break down in the fifth, so it’s good that I’m taking stuff on board and learning from my experiences to turn those results around.“
Edmund saw Murray at a British Davis Cup team dinner on Friday evening and the former world number one will have been delighted by this result as he begins his rehabilitation following hip surgery.
As for Edmund’s pink and black Nike kit, the 23-year-old is not convinced.
“Obviously it worked,” he said. “I don’t think pink really suits me. I think if you have a better tan, it would suit you.”Edmund next faces Uzbek Denis Istomin, who defeated Novak Djokovic in the second round 12 months ago.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here