Edmund puts out Goffin to power into quarter-finals

With his form over the past month, new British No 1 Kyle Edmund is ripping up the familiar narrative that British players do not like clay. At this rate, he will go into the forthcoming French Open as one of the more favoured contenders.

Edmund’s run continued yesterday as he defeated Belgium’s David Goffin to move into the quarter-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open – his first appearance at this stage of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament.

Having disposed of Novak Djokovic on Wednesday, Edmund was rampant against Goffin, the world No10, whom he swept aside 6-3, 6-3 in just 72 minutes. This was only his second victory over a top-10 opponent, after he took out Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-final of January’s Australian Open.

The power of the Edmund forehand has long been a talking point, but this week he is slamming backhand winners as well. Then there is the serve, which sent down seven aces yesterday. Despite being arguably the best returner on tour, Goffin could not manage a single break.

Immediately after Edmund’s victory, his quarter-final opponent was confirmed as Denis Shapovalov, who beat Canadian compatriot Milos Raonic in straight sets.

Edmund and Shapovalov may still be relative tour newcomers but they have already established a rivalry, starting from the moment in Ottawa last year when Shapovalov brought their Davis Cup meeting to a premature end by accidentally slamming a loose ball into the eye socket of umpire Arnaud Gabas.

Shapovalov was immediately disqualified (he was on the point of losing anyway) but after three more meetings, the series now stands at two wins apiece.

Yesterday’s victory should cement Edmund’s place inside the top 20 when the next set of rankings are published on Monday. Were he to go no further, then he would probably stand at No 19, level on points with Djokovic. But he needs only two more victories to leap ahead of a tightly bunched group into 11th.

Meanwhile, Judy Murray has her “fingers crossed” that her son Andy will still be able to make his comeback from hip surgery in time for the grass-court season. “It’s been a long and frustrating layoff for him,” Murray told the BBC. “But the strength in depth of men’s tennis is so great now that I don’t think anybody would want to come back from an injury into that environment unless you’re 100 per cent fit.”