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Kyle Edmund did to Denis Istomin on day three of the 2018 Australian Open what Novak Djokovic found beyond him at the same stage a year ago, and moves into the third round on Friday with more self-belief than at any time in his young career.
If ever a player has seized the moment it is the tall, shy shot-maker from... the Bahamas. He moved there recently from his flat in London and also has a new coach in the Swede Frederik Rosengren – changes which seem to have invigorated Edmund’s some times brittle tennis. For all his diffidence, he has assumed the injured Andy Murray’s mantle as the sole British contender in the men’s draw with quiet authority. Edmund is the lurking shark in this tournament.
Istomin, a genuine fighter on court, has had many fine days. Wednesday was not one of them. From the moment 23-year-old Edmund broke him early in the first set until he completed an impressive 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory in front of a small but appreciative British audience on sun-baked Court No13, there was little doubt who was going to progress in the first major of the season.
The smiling young winner said courtside: “There’s always a danger of someone like Denis coming back. Even though the scoreline is straightforward, the margin is small. Especially because you can see what he did last year.
“I’m very happy. It was a professional performance. After having four hours on court on Monday [when he beat the rangy South African Kevin Anderson], to get it done a lot quicker today will do me good.
“It has to give you confidence beating a guy like Anderson, 12 in the world and a great player on hard courts. It doesn’t mean it’s any easier today but I took confidence from knowing that, physically, I showed up really well against a quality player, and my level was good. I knew today coming into the match that I was in a good place.”
The British world No49 took just under an hour and a half to beat a 31-year-old campaigner probably as well known for his aviator wrap-around glasses and the fact that he is trained by his mother as for his ability to occasionally upset the biggest names in his sport. Here last year his victim was Djokovic, the defending champion who had not long lost his world No1 ranking to Andy Murray.
As the Serb has revealed subsequently, he was already hampered by a failing elbow and, after being knocked out of Wimbledon, would go on to leave the Tour for six months. That said, there could be no argument that Istomin, who squeezed into the 2017 draw on a wildcard and was ranked 117 in the world, did not deserve his 7-6 (10-8), 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win that day. It took Grigor Dimitrov to stop him in four sets in the fourth round.
Playing the way he is here and did in Brisbane before rolling his ankle towards the end of his three-set quarter-final against Dimitrov two weeks ago, Edmund has every chance of going as far. Next up is the Georgian, Nikoloz Basilashvili, who had a similarly easy 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 win over the Belgian qualifier, Ruben Bemelmans.
Edmund’s serve was his key weapon. He landed first time at 67%, which is respectable, and, although there was no speed gun on court, he looked to be putting a good deal of muscle into it, sticking nine aces past the Uzbek. His other clean winners – 38 in all – flowed mainly from his imposing forehand and he kept his unforced errors down to 20.
If Edmund can maintain his level and energy, he is a good bet to reach the second week, although there are plenty of fine players left on his side of the draw.
(GUARDIAN)
