THISDAY

Injury Scare for Edmund

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British number two Kyle Edmund had an injury scare as he pushed world number three Grigor Dimitrov to three sets in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane Internatio­nal.

The 22-year-old needed treatment after he went over on his right ankle at 4-4 in the decider. He was able to resume but went on to lose 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-4. Edmund will now have the injury assessed before 2018's opening Grand Slam, which starts on January 15.

With Andy Murray already out with a hip problem, Edmund is due to be the highest-ranked Briton in the men's singles.

He crashed to the ground with a scream after being wrongfoote­d by Dimitrov during a rally. After seeing Edmund's distress, Dimitrov immediatel­y leaped over the net and sprinted to his aid, helping the Briton to his chair.

"At the end of the day it's health above all," said Dimitrov. "It's very unfortunat­e what happened. I've seen this too many times, I know the feeling and I really hope he gets better."

Edmund's ankle was taped up and he appeared reasonably comfortabl­e on his return to the court, but the momentum had gone and two games later the match was over.

The Briton had looked solid in the opening set and had break points to go 4-3 ahead. Dimitrov saved both and in the next game the Bulgarian took advantage of a couple of errors to break for a 5-3 advantage, before serving out the set when Edmund netted a backhand.

Edmund had to save two break points in the ninth game of the second set and, encouraged, he swept through the tie-break to deservedly level the match.

The deciding set was equally close with Edmund saving two break points in his opening service game but he was unable to seal a first win in 14 attempts over a top-10 ranked player.

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