AHEAD of the Australian Open a couple of weeks ago, few would have bet on Kyle Edmund being the player flying the British flag as the tournament reached the business end of things but his defeat of Italy’s Andreas Seppi yesterday saw the 23 year-old reach his first-ever grand slam quarter-final.
Edmund made a slow start, dropping the first set on a tie-break and going a break of serve down in the second but by playing a more aggressive game and cutting down on his unforced errors, the Englishman clawed his way back from the jaws of defeat to secure a 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 victory.
It was another impressive performance from Edmund, who hit 25 aces on his way to victory, particularly considering he has endured two five-set victories in the first week of the tournament.
Having defeated eleventh seed Kevin Anderson in round one, the British world number two who is ranked 49th in the world knew he had the beating of Seppi and he admits to being delighted that his off-season training camp in the Bahamas is paying dividends. “It’s always good to see when results come, because that’s when it really shows it’s paying off,” he said.
“You can see you’re improving, but nothing really beats winning and results. Sometimes you don’t win every point and don’t win all the games you want to. There’s some problem-solving. It was still reasonably physically tough out there, but I did a good job of managing it.”
Edmund’s imperious form, which has included battling ferocious temperatures on-court, has left him in no doubt that he could be a potential title contender come the weekend. ““That’s why I’m in the quarter-finals - because every time I step on the court, I believe I’m going to win,” said Edmund.
“It’s no different now. The next opponent, I take it one step at a time.
“Whoever I’m playing on Tuesday, I have to believe I’m going to win and believe in my game. It’s a very small margin and balance between winning and losing.
“It’s always been like that. I have known that I have not been far off. Now that I’m winning, it’s just small, small margins in an elite sport.”
In the last eight, Edmund will face Bulgarian number three seed Grigor Dimitrov, who saw off home favourite Nick Kyrgios in a thrilling game. The match-up was the most highly anticipated of the round, with Dimitrov finally looking to be producing the form that saw him christened ‘Baby Fed’ and Kyrgios almost without exception able to produce his best when it really matters.
64 winners and only 27 unforced errors from Dimitrov proved too much for his young opponent, with Kyrgios hitting a remarkable 76 winners but that was off-set by 56 errors.
Dimitrov took a two sets to love lead, winning two tie-breaks before the Australian hit back to take the third 6-4. However, Dimitrov held his nerve, a quality that had been sadly lacking in the early part of his career, and clinched the match by winning a fourth set tie-break 7-4 to set up a quarter-final tie with Edmund.
“Playing against Nick is always tricky and two weeks ago I lost against him,” said Dimitrov.
“He fought really hard and it’s one of those matches you have to take any opportunity you have. Even serving for the match I felt it wasn’t over. I am just glad to get through that match.”
Elsewhere, top seed Rafa Nadal continued to sweep through the draw, defeating 24th seed Diego Schwartzman in four sets to set up a meeting with sixth seed Marin Cilic who won a tight four setter against Nadal’s compatriot, Pablo Carreno Busta.
Novak Djokovic is in action today, with the former Australian Open champion facing world ranked 58 Hyeon Chung of South Korea,who has upset the odds to reach this stage of the draw.
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