Edmund sets his sights on feat of clay...

KYLE Edmund is hoping to pick up where he left off on clay as Great Britain bid to cause an upset in their Davis Cup quarterfinal against France.

Britain beat the French, the country with the greatest strength in depth in men’s tennis, at the same stage on the way to their title two years ago.

But, instead of the grass of Queen’s Club, this time they must conquer Rouen’s indoor clay and do so without world number one Andy Murray, who is resting an elbow injury.

If they are to win, much will depend on Edmund, the number two player for this tie but much more accomplished on clay than the marginally higher ranked Dan Evans. Edmund showed his class last summer with Murray again on the sidelines when he won both his singles rubbers to earn victory over Serbia on the same surface in Belgrade.

That was the last time he played on the red stuff, and a repeat this weekend would give Britain a great chance of a third semi-final in succession.

The 22-year-old, ranked 47, said: “The last time I played on clay was in Serbia - I definitely played some good tennis there so there are lots of good memories. This is the first competitive match since then and it has been nine months so I have to get used to the transition from hard to clay. But I am looking forward to it. Whenever you come to Davis Cup you have time to prepare so there are no excuses.”

When it was confirmed there would be no Andy Murray in Britain’s team - his brother Jamie will again play doubles with Dom Inglot - Britain’s chances of victory looked remote at best.

But France are significantly weakened by the absence of Gael Monfils through injury, Richard Gasquet following an appendix operation and new father Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Captain Yannick Noah made another change yesterday, replacing world number 30 Gilles Simon with 68th-ranked Jeremy Chardy, who will be number two singles player to Lucas Pouille - ranked 17 but with only three Davis Cup rubbers behind him. Their leading doubles team of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, meanwhile, has been broken up by injury to the latter.