Edmund slips up to Denis the menace
KYLE EDMUND last night suffered the disappointment of his surging run at the Madrid Open coming to an end. Even if it was not a shock to compare with the earlier defeat of Rafael Nadal — the great Spaniard had been beaten 7-5, 6-3 by Austria’s Dominic Thiem — the British No 1 followed him out of the tournament due to a 7-5, 6-7, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Canada’s rising star Denis Shapovalov. Having beaten both Novak Djokovic and top Belgian David Goffin, Edmund was overcome by the 19-year-old world No 43, whose outrageous shotmaking already has him marked down as a potential world No 1. Edmund started brightly but, burdened by being favourite on this occasion, was broken twice to lose the first set. The second was marked by a protracted row over a point during which a spectator called out but the mild-mannered Edmund, initially distracted, hung in well to save a match point at 5-6. He then took the tiebreak 8-6 on his second set point as his opponent began to leak unforced errors. The southpaw Shapovalov is a very difficult player to read and Edmund struggled at times to pick his direction, not helped by his serve falling below the level of earlier in the week. The decisive break came at 1-1 in the decider and from there the 23-year-old Yorkshireman could not quite claw his way back. It was actually not a bad performance but he will see it as an opportunity missed, especially given the unexpected absence of the great champion. Nadal had won his last 50 sets on clay and not been beaten on the surface for 357 days, but was way below his best against world No 7 Thiem, who is a handful for anyone when he is in the mood. Roger Federer, despite being on a break from the tour, regained the world No 1 spot as a result of yesterday’s events. While the outcome was a major surprise it is not the first time that Nadal, whose forehand continually misfired, has suffered a dip at this time of year, and he assuredly remains the favourite for the French Open later this month.