Australian Open 2018: Kyle Edmund reaches Grand Slam quarter-finals for first time

Thanks largely to Andy Murray – with a little help from Johanna Konta – Britain has been represented in the singles quarter-finals here at the Australian Open every year since 2010. With Murray absent this year following hip surgery and Konta suffering an early exit it seemed that the run might be about to end, but Kyle Edmund ensured a British presence in the last eight with another admirable performance here on Sunday.

Recovering from a slow start, Edmund beat Andreas Seppi 6-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 as the world No 49’s thumping forehands and bold serves, including 25 aces, eventually battered the 33-year-old Italian into submission.

Edmund is normally a reserved character who does not show much emotion on court, but at the end he leapt into the air in celebration.

“It’s a good feeling,” he said afterwards in his on-court interview. “I’m very happy to get through and I’ll keep doing my best. I know people at home are waking up at silly hours in the morning so I’m just grateful for that.”

In earning a quarter-final showdown with either Grigor Dimitrov or Nick Kyrgios, who were meeting later in the day in the first match of the evening session, Edmund became the first British man other than Murray to reach the last eight here since John Lloyd in 1985. He is also the first British man other than Murray to have reached the singles quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament since Tim Henman made the semi-finals at the US Open in 2004.

Edmund, who at the end of this fortnight is set to climb to a career-high position at around No 35 in the world on the strength of this result, had reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament on only one previous occasion, at the 2016 US Open.

READ MORE: Djokovic insists hip problem is ‘nothing major’

If the draw has opened up for Edmund in that his last three opponents have all been ranked outside the world’s top 50, it should also be remembered that he knocked out Kevin Anderson, the world No 12 and last year’s US Open runner-up, in the first round. He has also won two five-set matches in a tournament for the first time.

Seppi, the world No 76, is a highly experienced campaigner who has claimed plenty of big scalps in his time. A former top 20 player, he was appearing in his 51st consecutive Grand Slam tournament, though he has never made it to a quarter-final. While the Italian has no major weapons, he is a consistent ball-striker, as he demonstrated in winning the first set.

The mini-heatwave of last week has been replaced by significantly cooler temperatures – it was 28C at the start of the match at around 4.30pm - though the humidity has been higher in the last two days. While there were Italian fans in the crowd, it was clear from an early stage that Edmund had the majority of the support in Hisense Arena, which is the third of the main show courts here.

Both players held serve comfortably in the early stages, but at 3-4 in the opening set Edmund had to save five break points, three of them with unreturned serves. They were the only break points of the set, which went to a tie-break. There were no mini-breaks until Edmund served at 4-5, upon which Seppi cracked two successive backhand winners down the line to take the set.

When Seppi made the first break of serve in the third game of the second set Edmund’s prospects were not looking so good, but the Briton’s response could not be faulted. Not only did he go on the attack but he also managed to cut out the mistakes which had kept offering Seppi opportunities. Having made 23 unforced errors in the opening set, Edmund made just six in the second.

With Seppi serving at 2-1, Edmund forced his first break point of the match, only to put a smash into the net. Two points later, however, the Briton clenched his fist in celebration as a thumping forehand winner put him level at 2-2. At 5-6 Seppi saved one set point with a service winner but on the next the Italian missed a forehand to give Edmund a foothold in the match.

By the time Edmund had gone 3-0 up in the third set he had won five games in a row. Striking the ball with much greater confidence, the Briton dictated most of the points, denying Seppi the chance to attack.

When Seppi served at 2-5 Edmund broke again. A splendid attacking forehand took him to set point, which he converted immediately with a cracking forehand cross-court return winner.

Edmund continued to set the pace in the fourth set, but had to be patient as Seppi offered some stern resistance. The Italian, who took a medical time-out for treatment on his right shoulder early in the set, saved three break points in the second game and another two in the sixth, but in the eighth he finally succumbed to the pressure of Edmund’s pounding returns.

There was no holding back from Edmund as he served for the match. A splendid inside-out forehand took him to match point, which he converted with a service winner.

“It was a really interesting match,” Edmund said afterwards. “Although it was quite a close first set I didn’t feel like I got off to the best start. He was hitting the ball very clean and dictating a lot of points, so in the second set I really had to try and shift the momentum. But once I broke him in that last game of the second set I really took control of the momentum of the match.”

Edmund pointed out that Seppi has a good record here. “He’s reached the fourth round quite a few times,” Edmund said. “He’s obviously had two five-setters against Nick [Kyrgios] on this court and won a five-setter against [Ivo] Karlovic, so he’s playing very well, but so was I. I’ve won two five-setters, hit a lot of balls. We were both feeling good, but, through to my first quarter-final, I’m very happy.”

Asked about having the weight of a nation on his shoulders, Edmund said: “It’s more of a shame that Andy’s not here. I keep on saying that. You play for your nation but you’re here playing for yourself. Nothing changes in terms of your preparations and process. But hopefully we’ll have more British here in the future.”