Edmund stays hot thanks to advice

British No2 heeds mum’s warning to overcome rival and Melbourne sun

British No 2 Kyle Edmund sizzled in the Melbourne sunshine yesterday as he defeated Denis Istomin in straight sets to progress to the third round of the Australian Open.

Kyle Edmund’s mum makes sure he is always ready for the sun and the Yorkshireman is showing form as hot as the Melbourne summer at the Australian Open.

The British No 2 followed up his statement upset of Kevin Anderson in round one by breezing past Denis Istomin 6-2 6-2 6-4 in just an hour and 29 minutes to reach the third round at Melbourne Park for the first time.

It was hot enough for the players to drape ice towels around their necks during changeovers but, by the time Edmund takes on Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili tomorrow, the thermometer may have hit 40C.

Edmund, with his fair hair and pale complexion, was not built for such conditions but he will at least make sure he applies enough sun cream.

“I got a bit burned on Monday,” he said. “I didn’t put enough on then. It’s my neck that gets the worst. You’re in the sun quite a bit. I have to take responsibility. My mum gives me a lecture if I don’t.

“It’s going to be hot. You just have to do your best. It’s the same for both players really – that’s one way of looking at it. You expect it to be hot in Australia. That’s why you prepare, do all the hours on court in the off-season.

“That’s why most players don’t really do a pre-season indoors in the cold, because the first tournaments of the year are in very hot conditions in Australia. You have to be fit for it. Whoever manages it best probably will have a better outcome.”

The 23-year-old oozed confidence yesterday, dropping just three points on his first serve and not facing a single break point against a player who caused a seismic upset at this stage last year by beating Novak Djokovic.

Edmund’s section of the draw was blown wide open on day one by defeats for seeds Anderson, Jack Sock, Lucas Pouille and Philipp Kohlschreiber and it is a golden opportunity for one of the players remaining to reach a grand slam quarter-final.

On this form, there is absolutely no reason why that cannot be Edmund, who is the highest-ranked player left following Ivo Karlovic’s five-set win over Yuichi Sugita.

Edmund is only allowing himself to look one step ahead and will leave it to others to speculate on how far he might be able to go.

The world No 49 said: “I’m playing well. I’m happy with where I’m at in my game, stuff I’m working on.

“I got good confidence from the match against Anderson. I knew going into this match physically I was good, the way I’m hitting the ball. If he was going to beat me today, I knew I was going to put up a good fight.

“Today was a good, professional performance, I did what I needed to do. I held my concentration well. I was just really pleased, especially with the heat today. To get on and off is good.”

Basilashvili, ranked 12 places below Edmund, had never won a match at the Australian Open before this year and lost his only previous encounter with the Yorkshireman at the French Open in 2016.

Edmund said: “He’s obviously a very aggressive player. He takes swings at the ball. He has errors, but he has lots of winners.”

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You expect it to be hot in Australia. That’s why you prepare, do all the hours on court in the off-season. KYLE EDMUND

Grigor Dimitrov survived an almighty scare against American qualifier Mackenzie Mcdonald to reach the third round.

The third seed, a semi-finalist 12 months ago, came into this season on a high after winning the ATP Finals in November but was well below his best against a player ranked 186.

Mcdonald won the opening set and then, remarkably, the fourth set to love, but Dimitrov refused to give in and roared when he eventually sealed a 4-6 6-2 6-4 0-6 8-6 victory.

“It’s a tough day,” said that Bulgarian. “I just had to play with what I had today. I’m the most happy with that – winning on days when you’re not supposed to. He was playing unbelievable. I had to fight and experience in the end really helped.”

Jo-wilfried Tsonga produced a terrific comeback to defeat Denis Shapovalov and set up a blockbuster third-round encounter with Nick Kyrgios.

Tsonga lost to 18-year-old Shapovalov at the US Open last summer but, from 2-5 in the deciding set, turned the tables to win 3-6 6-3 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5.

Now Tsonga must face another of the players looking to wrestle control of men’s tennis away from the old guard.

Kyrgios so far is delivering on his vow to adopt a more mature approach and withstood the distractions of a noisy helicopter, a faulty sound system and heckles from the crowd in a 7-5 6-4 7-6 (7-2) victory over Viktor Troicki.

The 22-year-old said: “I think last year, the year before, I probably would have been still out on the court right now, could be losing that match.

“When he broke back in the third set, I started freaking out a little bit. I played a pretty good tie-break to get out of trouble. I know I have to conserve my energy from the start in best-of-five matches. Just so many ups and downs, it’s draining.”

World No 1 Rafael Nadal was tested by Argentinian Leonardo Mayer but quelled the threat to win 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-4).

All the players due to play today and tomorrow face the prospect of extreme heat, with temperatures forecast to soar.

Nadal, who next faces 28th seed Damir Dzumhur, voiced his hope that tournament organisers will shut the roofs on the three courts that have them if the conditions become too bad.

He said: “I think it’s a health issue, even though I like sometimes to play with heat. When it’s too much, it becomes dangerous for the health. I would not like to see here retirements, conditions that create a bad show for the crowd.”

AP.