Edmund retires with a neck injury, trailing 3-6 6-3 6-3 1-0
Saturday 2 September 2017 14:01, UK
Britain's last hope at the US Open Kyle Edmund was forced to retire from his third-round clash with Denis Shapovalov due to a neck injury.
Edmund was carrying the British flag alone at Flushing Meadows, but was unable to follow up victory over Robin Haase and American Steve Johnson against fellow youngster Shapovalov, despite winning the first set.
The exciting young Canadian came through 3-6 6-3 6-3 1-0 before the world No 42 retired due to a neck injury.
British No 2 Edmund made a blistering start and raced into a 3-0 lead before Shapovalov, who beat Edmund at Queen's Club in June, won the next three games to level up.
But Edmund broke again for a 5-3 lead before closing out the first set with an ace in front of a sparse crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The 18-year-old, who stunned No 8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, imposed himself much more in the second set, and a single break of serve was good enough to level up the match.
The explosive left-hander with a show-stopping single-handed backhand, levelled at 2-2 in the third set before Edmund grabbed the back of his neck when serving at 40-30 in the fifth game.
Despite holding serve, Edmund was never quite the same player that had begun the match, and even after receiving three bouts of treatment he was clearly hampered and did not win another game before pulling the plug on his challenge.
It was Edmund's 10th match in 14 days after reaching the semi-finals of the Winston-Salem Open and his heavy schedule perhaps caught up him.
For 18-year-old Shapovalov, he became the youngest man to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadows since Michael Chang in 1989 and at any Grand Slam since Marat Safin in 1998.
He will next face Spanish 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta, who ousted French qualifier Nicolas Mahut 6-3 6-4 6-3.
The French Open quarter-finalist, who has not dropped a set, became the first player to face four qualifiers at a Grand Slam in the Open Era after Shapovalov's latest win.
In the day's other matches, 16th seed Lucas Pouille, a quarter-finalist last year, came from a set down to defeat Mikhail Kukushkin 2-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 while Sam Querrey shrugged off his status as the only previous semi-finalist after coming from a set down to defeat Radu Albot 4-6 6-2 6-2 6-4.
Querrey next faces 23rd seed Mischa Zverev, who denied the home country an all-American fourth-round clash by beating 10th seed John Isner 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
Croatian Borna Coric could not follow up his big win over fellow 20-year-old Alexander Zverev, losing 6-4 6-3 6-2 to 28th seed Kevin Anderson.
Sky Sports Tennis will have all the action from the US Open covered via our website sky.mnosports.com/tennis with our live blogs and updates throughout the fortnight as the Grand Slam year reaches its climax.
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