Edmund pulls off a shock victory

KYLE Edmund pulled off the biggest victory of his career with a five-set win over US Open finalist Kevin Anderson at the Australian Open.

It looked a horrible draw for Britain’s only male singles player at the event but he stepped up superbly in t he absence of t he injured Andy Murray.

Seven months after losing to Anderson in five sets in the third round of the French Open, Edmund recovered from two sets to one down to win 6-7 (4/7) 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.

Edmund had a bad habit in 2017 of l osing close matches but was near faultless at the big moments and clinched victory on his first match point after three hours 59 minutes.

The 23-year-old next faces Denis Istomin, who defeated Novak Djokovic in the second round a year ago.

A pep talk from Roger Federer helped i nspire Belinda Bencic to a major upset in the women’s event.

The 20-year-old came into the tournament in great form and knocked out last year’s runner-up Venus Williams 6-3 7-5.

Twelve months after Venus was beaten by her sister Serena in the final, the family will not be represented in the second round of the event for the first time since 1997, before Bencic was even born.

Bencic had support from the whole Federer family, with Roger offering his advice before the match and congratulating her afterwards while his parents were in Bencic’s player box.

Kyle Edmund celebrates his surprise success.