Edmund summons all his resilience to fight back in Melbourne’s stifling heat
Murray impressed as fellow Brit scores one of the biggest wins of his career
Kyle Edmund celebrated one of the best victories of his career after coming from two sets to one down to defeat Nikoloz Basilashvili in searingly hot conditions at the Australian Open.
Britain’s remaining singles hope looked to be struggling as temperatures hit 40.2C but he showed tremendous physical and mental resilience to win 7-6 (7/0), 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 and reach the fourth round of a grand slam for a second time.
Edmund’s progress was held back last year by a failure to win close matches, and he arrived in Australia having lost his last three fivesetters. But he has answered the doubters spectacularly, going the distance against US Open finalist Kevin Anderson in round one, and then against Georgian Basilashvili yesterday.
One interested spectator back home was Andy Murray, who watched the match in the middle of the night and then tweeted to call it the biggest win of Edmund’s career.
“It’s definitely up there,” said the 23-year-old. “It’s really hard to say if it’s the best win or not. For sure, the physical test, it was a great, great win for me to come through like that in a grand slam. Best-offive sets in that kind of heat, it’s really good for my career and my confidence going forward.”
Edmund suffered a lull after appearing in control at a set andabreakupbuta20-minute Basilashvili service game early in the fourth set, where he finally broke, turned the match in his favour.
He won only seven of 27 break points and made 64 unforced errors but this was a day for heart and fortitude rather than exceptional tennis, and Edmund was not found wanting.
Basilashvili, ranked 61 to Edmund’s 49, quickly settled for a deciding set after his titanic service game, which featured eight break points and 15 deuces, and came back strongly in the fifth.
But, after Edmund had coolly saved a break point at 4-4, Basilashvili sent down his 17th double fault to hand his opponent a match point and then netted a backhand.