Tennis
ESPN staff 6y

Kyle Edmund pulls off biggest win of career to beat Kevin Anderson

Tennis

Kyle Edmund pulled off the biggest victory of his career with a five-set win over US Open finalist Kevin Anderson at the Australian Open.

Seven months after losing to Anderson in five sets in the third round of the French Open, Edmund recovered from two sets to one down to win 6-7 (4/7) 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.

The 23-year-old next faces Uzbek Denis Istomin, who defeated Novak Djokovic in the second round 12 months ago.

Openings were always likely to be few and far between and, after 12 games that saw Edmund save the only two break points, Anderson edged the tie-break by taking the final two points against the Yorkshireman's serve.

Edmund put together a new coaching team of Swede Fredrik Rosengren and Brit Mark Hilton at the end of last season and the trio have worked hard on improving Edmund's serve and trying to help him turn those close losses into wins.

It was a reversal of their French Open clash, where it was Edmund who had the lead after set three, but the 23-year-old quickly took the initiative at the start of set four.

Edmund had been hugely impressive at the crunch moments and, after breaking Anderson to lead 2-0, he recovered from 0-40 in the next game.

He was starting to really put pressure on the Anderson serve and had chances in two more games before eventually serving it out to force a decider.

He saved a break point in the sixth game after receiving some treatment to his right shoulder but then took advantage of Anderson's over-hitting to break for 4-3 and served it out to love.

PA contributed to this report.

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