Edmund out-guns Anderson for first-round shock
MELBOURNE: BRITAIN’S Kyle Edmund outfought Kevin Anderson in a courtthree marathon to send the 11th seed tumbling out of the Australian Open 6-7(4) 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4 in the first round yesterday.
Flying the Union Flag alone in the men’s draw in the absence of injured compatriot Andy Murray, Edmund conjured up the best result of his career the hard way. The world number 49 twice needed to come from a set down to force a deciding fifth set, where again he battled back from a break down to clinch victory and set up a second-round clash with Uzbek Denis Istomin.
“Really happy,” said the 23-year-old Edmund, who was born in South Africa but moved to England at the age of three.
“So many positive reasons. Just getting through a tough match like that (against) a quality player ... going down a set, coming back.
“Overall, there’s a personal satisfaction, the hours you put in, training, et cetera, so many things like that. Those type of results make ... worth it basically.”
Big-serving Anderson sent down his usual barrage of aces, 35 in all, and showed no shortage of fight himself but was ultimately undone as Edmund fired back winner after winner. Anderson, a finalist at the US Open last year, had looked like he would ultimately pull away from his opponent until the last few games of the decider.
He won the tie break with his 23rd winner of the first set and even when Edmund squared up the match in the second he was putting enough consistent pressure on his opponent’s serve to feel confident of getting the breaks.
Light rain stopped play at a crucial moment in the third set after Edmund had saved three break points to battle back for deuce. He was left cursing his slow start after the action resumed and Anderson broke for 5-3, then served out the set.
“Everyone gets angry. It’s human nature,” reflected Edmund. “But I just knew that it’s tennis. It’s going to be up and down. I knew I would get the opportunity to break him. Just deal with it when it happens and move on.”
The Englishman simply refused to buckle and again battled back to even up the set count, only to be broken in his opening service game of the decider. Edmund broke back immediately, however, and although he needed treatment on his right shoulder, grabbed another and was soon sealing his victory with a thunderous forehand winner.
Meanwhile, Swiss Belinda Bencic sent an early shockwave through the Australian Open yesterday by toppling last year’s finalist Venus Williams on an opening day of carnage for American tennis.
With defending champion and new mum Serena absent, 20-year-old Bencic’s brilliant 6-3 7-5 win under the Rod Laver Arena roof ensured there would not be a Williams sister in the second round of the tournament for the first time in over 20 years.
It also continued a bleak day for the United States, with three of their four women’s semi-finalists from Flushing Meadows last year falling at the first hurdle.
US Open champion Sloane Stephens tumbled in three sets against China’s plucky Zhang Shuai, before 10th seed CoCo Vandeweghe was sent packing in two by Hungary’s Timea Babos. For former world number seven Bencic, victory was another step on an impressive comeback trail from wrist surgery that saw her tumble out of the top 300 last year before her return in September.
It was also a matter of felling a seven-times grand slam-winning idol, having never won a set against her in four previous matches.
“I think (before) I had a little bit too much respect, played a little bit careful and safe,” Bencic, who was a toddler when Venus won her first grand slam at Wimbledon in 2000, told reporters.
“This time, I really tried to come out and, you know, hit it big. Also tactically be smart on the court.”
Now ranked 78th, Bewncic teamed up with Roger Federer to win the Hopman Cup for Switzerland in the lead-up and was thrilled to have the defending champion’s parents watching from her players’ box as she worked over Venus in less than two hours.
Federer’s parents are used to seeing wins and Bencic did not disappoint, playing the 37-year-old American to perfection.
Soaking up the fifth seed’s firepower, she counterpunched brilliantly to seal the match with a pair of rasping forehand winners.