The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Edmund’s run in Madrid comes to an angry end
British number one loses out to young Canadian in quarter-final
Kyle Edmund’s run at the Madrid Open came to an angry end as he was beaten in straight sets by Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov in the quarter-finals.
Edmund, who had beaten Novak Djokovic and David Goffin, lost his cool near the end of the second set when he stopped after a spectator called out, and Shapovalov proceeded to serve an ace.
He subsequently had to save a match point to force a deciding set, which he lost to go out 7-5 6-7 (6/8) 6-4.
Edmund had acquitted himself against a player rated as one of the game’s rising stars, swapping breaks early in the first set before a sloppy final service game cost him dearly.
He showed admirable poise to edge through the second set tie-break before Shapovalov grabbed what turned out to be the crucial break in the third game of the decider.
Nevertheless 23-year-old Edmund gave his all in what was his first Masters 1000 quarter-final, and can expect to be rewarded with a place in the top 20 for the first time when the new rankings appear on Monday.
Rafael Nadal refused to make excuses after his record-breaking winning streak came to an end at the hands of Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals in Madrid.
Nadal will also lose his world number one spot after a 7-5 6-3 defeat to the Austrian which brings to an end his 21-match unbeaten run on his favourite surface.
On Thursday Nadal was celebrating booking his place in the last eight with a straight-sets win over Diego Schwartzman, which saw him surpass John McEnroe’s record of 49 straight set wins on a single surface.
But Nadal could not maintain his form and was comfortably beaten by the world number seven, who broke his opponent’s serve five times in the twohour match.
Nadal relinquished his world number one position to Roger Federer, who is sitting out the clay court season.
However, the Spaniard will regain it if he wins the Rome Masters next week.
In the semi-finals Thiem will face South African sixth seed Kevin Anderson, who proved too strong for Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic, winning 7-6 (7/3) 3-6 6-3 in just over two hours.