Edmund becomes the first British man aside from Andy Murray to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals since John Lloyd in 1985
Thursday 24 May 2018 14:24, UK
Kyle Edmund recorded the most significant victory of his burgeoning career by beating Andreas Seppi in four sets to reach his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.
The world No 49, flying the British flag in Andy Murray's absence, recovered from losing the first set on a tiebreak and a break deficit in the second to become the first British man aside from Murray to reach the quarter-finals in Melbourne since John Lloyd in 1985.
Edmund, who had won two five-set thrillers on his way to reaching the third round, found his best tennis to secure victory in 6-7(4) 7-5 6-2 6-3 in two hours and 57 minutes on Hisense Arena and will face world No 3 Grigor Dimitrov in the last eight.
The Bulgarian needed just under three-and-a-half hours to beat home favourite Nick Kyrgios and end the fans' hopes of a home winner and now the ATP Finals champion will face Edmund for a third time having won on both previous occasions.
"It's a good feeling, an interesting match and I didn't think I got off to the best of starts - he was dictating things and I had to change the course of the match," Edmund said in his on-court interview.
"I felt I did that and then took control of the match. He is playing well, he had beaten (Ivo) Karlovic in a five-setter! But I have won two five-set matches too and now I am in the quarter-final, I am really happy."
The 23-year-old, who fired 25 aces and 63 winners during the encounter, came into the meeting against his Italian counterpart having won their only previous encounter back in 2013 in Antwerp but appeared to struggle to find his range in the first set and was forced to save five break points in the eighth game of the opener.
Seppi, the world No 76, lost only four points on serve during the first set on his way to securing the tiebreak and appeared set to take control of the match when he broke Edmund in the third game of the second set.
Edmund recovered immediately and broke his experienced opponent as both players continued to trade blows from the baseline with Edmund's forehand beginning to fire.
Both players continued to remain assured behind their delivery until the 12th game of the second set when Edmund seized on an indifferent service game from Seppi to break the Italian for the second time and level the match at one-set all.
Edmund began the third set well breaking Seppi's opening service game on his way to opening up a three-game lead and maintained his advantage until he broke once again to move within one set of the final, closing out the set with a forehand winner.
The fourth set was a tighter affair with Seppi calling for the trainer to treat a shoulder issue - something Edmund had done during the first set - and appeared rejuvenated, finding some extra weight behind his groundstrokes and serves.
The British No 2 showed no signs of tension despite the pressure on his shoulders to break Seppi for a fifth time in the match before showing extreme composure to reach the last eight with flying colours.
