Kevin Anderson will take on Marin Cilic in the last 16 of
the French Open after battling to a
five-set win over Kyle Edmund
Kyle Edmund certainly has every
reason to enjoy playing at Roland Garros—and has done since his very first time
in the main draw here.
Roland Garros
was the first Major where he won a match, in 2015, and earned the hard way via
qualifying. It ended the hard way, too. After three match-wins to make the main
draw, the Briton battled through three hours and five sets to reach the second
round, only to be forced to withdraw with a stomach injury.
Then last year,
Edmund won his second Major match—also in Paris. His reward was a loss to No17
seed John Isner, but if he needed a boost to his confidence, it came in New
York four months later: Not just a fourth-round run but a win over Isner,
having already beaten No15 seed Richard Gasquet.
Now he was into
the third round for the first time, back where it all began, a 22-year-old in a
quarter packed with over-30s, all except Marin Cilic—who turns 29 in a few
months’ time.
Ranked at 49,
Edmund may have enjoyed some good fortune in avoiding the No12 seed Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga in the second round, and then missing out on a first meeting with fellow
22-year-old Nick Kyrgios, but now he faced a tough challenge against a former
top-10 man, Kevin Anderson.
The 6ft 8in South African, however, was now ranked at 56 after being knocked
back by hip, knee, shoulder and assorted other injuries. In fact until Paris,
Anderson had played only 18 matches this year, winning nine of them, and not
until here had he scored a top-20 win in Kyrgios.
They played in the popular and intimate Court 2, and it was
already packed long before the two men arrived on court.
Both clearly determined to play attacking tennis, as their
big serve-and-forehand game rightly demands. Edmund came under pressure first,
a deuce to hold in his first game, then there was a break chance from the
net-attacking Anderson in the fourth. But Edmund was up to the challenge and
slotted a flat forehand pass down the line.
After the ninth game, Anderson called for a medical time-out
to increase the extensive strapping on his left thigh. There were no obvious
signs of problems on his serve, and the South African is always a restrained
man between points on court. In any case, and despite Edmund playing some fine
aggressive rallies, it headed to a tie-break.
Once there, Edmund looked the more assured player, and in the
face of some big serving, went after Anderson to produce a couple of fine
passes down the backhand wing—a much-improved shot in the Briton’s arsenal. It
was one such shot that brought up set point on Edmund’s serve and he made no
mistake: 7-6(6) in just under an hour.
The second set unfolded along the same lines, this time with
neither man getting a break chance. But come the tie-break, Anderson got the
early advantage, and took the set with a forehand winner, 7-6(4).
Both had hit 28 winners, and were separated by only one
point. In the third set, though, break chances came thick and fast against
Edmund, three in the second game, and another in each of the sixth and the
eighth, but still the Briton came up with the goods, serving solid and slotting
winners down the line.
Yet he could not fashion a break point of his own—until the
11th game, when he began to fire off winners down both wings. He was denied on
the first by a net clip but on the second, he thumped a forehand to get the
first break of the match. With 2hrs 46mins on the clock, he served out the set,
7-5.
Edmund seemed, then, to have the momentum, but Anderson was
quickly on the case, and grabbed an early love break, consolidated by a hold,
3-0. He broke again, now attacking at every opportunity and seeming unable to
miss. He broke again and served out the set, 6-1, with 25 points to eight, 12
winners to one, one error to eight. It had been a distinct change in tempo and
energy from Anderson.
Edmund, sensibly, slowed things down by leaving the court:
Could he rediscover the intensity of the previous three hours? It looked as
though he could. He may have been the first to face 0-40 in the fifth game, but
he saved them in some style, reeling off a couple of blistering forehands to
hold.
However Anderson’s serve was proving impregnable, and Edmund
would not work a single break point chance. Come the ninth game, Anderson had
two chances to break again and took the first with a big backhand onto the
side-line. It was all he required. Edmund held to 30-30 but Anderson placed an
edgy volley winner and thumped down one last serve for the match, 6-4, after
four hours of compelling tennis.
Anderson next takes on Cilic for a place in the
quarter-finals after the No7 seeded Croat, fresh from winning the Istanbul
title a fortnight ago, took out Feliciano Lopez, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. Cilic has yet
to lose more than three games in a set. In contrast, the veteran Spaniard had
taken almost four hours and five sets to beat David Ferrer on Thursday.
Despite being one of a clutch of French Open junior champions
packing this quarter—Cilic won in 2005—the Croat has never got beyond the
fourth round in the senior tournament. A win for either him or Anderson would
be their first, and while they have not played for three years, Cilic leads
their head-to-head 5-1.
It will be a big-hitting affair, and will be an emotional
result for whoever wins
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