Gasquet blown away by Edmund
Yorkshireman. “I actually played him in the first round of the Binghamton Challenger last year. I think it was in three sets,” said Edmund.
“But I’m pleased with the way I played today, so the main thing for me is trying to keep that going and basically, what I did today, try to put that in my next match. I’m sure I’ll have a good chance.”
Admittedly Gasquet was not at his sparkling best – he has been dealing with a back injury all summer. At Wimbledon, he was just six games into his fourth-round match when he felt a stabbing and familiar pain. The herniated disc that had felled him before had flared up
again and he was forced to take six weeks off. With only five matches under his belt since his comeback, he knew he was in no shape to take on an inspired Edmund.
“He deserved it,” Gasquet said. “He played well. He will be very good in the future. He has a great serve, a great forehand.
“I haven’t played very much. I had a big problem at Wimbledon. It killed me a little bit. I forced it a lot to come back.”
Murray, the usual flag-bearer of British hopes, will open his account today against the sometimes flashy but invariably charmless Lukas Rosol. The Czech’s claim to fame is that he beat Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon four years ago. Since then he has made forays up the rankings to a career high of No26 two years ago but now languishes at world No81.
He also had a run-in with Murray in Munich last year, shoulder barging him at a change of ends and rousing the Scot to snap at him: “No one likes you on the tour. Everyone hates you.”
Rosol claims the two men are now friends again but he was in no mood to discuss the matter. He was none too happy to be talking about his exploits against Nadal either and sounded like a man who did not fancy his chances against the world No2 today.
“That is history already,” he said of his win over Nadal. “Andy is hitting well, serving well, playing all-round well. He is a better player than me.
“He is playing well now, he has a lot of big wins this year.”