Kyle Edmund into Australian Open second round after beating 11th seed Kevin Anderson in five sets
Until Monday, it had been a gloomy start to the season for the home contingent, what with Andy Murray’s hip surgery and a series of lesser injuries for the rank and file.
But Kyle Edmund switched on the lights, turned up the music and delivered a show at Melbourne Park. His 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over 11th seed Kevin Anderson announced that British tennis is open for business in 2018.
Perhaps this is not a one-man sport after all.
The match brought together two physical powerhouses who are also surprisingly diffident characters. Before playing the US Open final in September, the 6ft 8in Anderson admitted that he had been working on a more macho image. On top of practising his fist-pumps in the mirror, he consulted a psychologist, who told him to project himself like a rock star on the court.
Edmund is still some way off that level of showmanship. We saw this after a classic rally in Brisbane 10 days ago, when he made an abortive attempt to whip up the crowd, only to come over all bashful halfway through. He finished in an apologetic head-scratch position.
Still, Edmund has spent the off-season working with his new coach Fredrik Rosengren to reverse last season’s pattern, in which he worried half-a-dozen leading players – including Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic – with his blunderbuss of a forehand, before falling just short of victory each time.
The Edmund we saw on Monday was different to the 2017 model: more demonstrative, more tenacious, more aggressive. And it paid off. Where he had gone down to a 3hr 59min defeat against Anderson at last year’s French Open, here he staggered over the line after exactly the same match duration.
“I took chances, basically,” said Edmund afterwards. “Calculated risks. Especially in the fifth set, going down a break, then breaking him twice in a set to win it is pleasing. After the hours you put in in training, these types of results make it all feel worth it.
“It’s a good measure actually,” Edmund added. “I lost to Kevin in five sets in May. A few months on from that I’m beating him in five.”
Normally, when you eliminate the 11th seed in your opening match, the reward is a cushy spot in the draw. But Edmund’s life will not necessarily get much easier on Wednesday, even assuming that he recovers well. His next opponent will be Denis Istomin, who scored the win of his life at the equivalent stage of last year’s Australian Open when he took out defending champion Novak Djokovic in five sets.
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Nadal is through to this year’s second round after a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Victor Estrella Burgos, which helped answer doubts about the Spaniard’s fitness following his knee problems.
While the British party in Melbourne might feel embarrassingly small, at just three singles players, the mighty Americans discovered that size is no guarantee of success. They had 15 athletes in action, of whom only three – Ryan Harrison, Nicole Gibbs and Mackenzie McDonald – progressed.
The most notable faller was Venus Williams, who finished as runner-up here last year. This time around, though, she found herself facing Belinda Bencic – the resurgent Swiss who is coming back from wrist surgery last summer, and who arrived here on a run of 15 straight victories in second-tier events. Bencic smacked some unstoppable forehands as she eliminated Williams 6-3, 7-5.
If Bencic has momentum to spare, then Sloane Stephens cannot seem to get any going. Monday’s loss against Shuai Zhang was her eighth defeat from as many matches since winning the US Open.
On the men’s side, two of the USA’s three top-20 players – Jack Sock and John Isner – also went out in the first round. The remaining hope, Sam Querrey, was due to play overnight.
