Belgium's David Goffin recovered from trailing 2-0 to complete a 3-6 1-6 6-2 6-1 6-0 win over Britain's Kyle Edmund in the opening match of the Davis Cup final in Ghent.
World number 100 Kyle Edmund stunned the Ghent crowd when taking
the first set 6-3 against world number 16 David Goffin.
He wrapped up the second set 6-1 with Goffin apparently all over
the place in struggling to cope with the heavy hitting of the bigger
man before Edmund himself appeared to choke as his opponent flattened
him in the final three sets in a match lasting two hours and 45 minutes.
"It was not easy, " said Goffin. "It was tough for me to find my
timing. If Kyle continued playing like he was, I would have said well
down. But I knew if I found my timing, I had a small chance.
"He was really aggressive in the first two sets with his forehand. That is why he won the first two sets."
It was the first time in his career that Goffin had fought back
from falling two sets down to complete a victory that was vital to the
home team's hopes of winning the event for the first time in the history
of the Davis Cup.
The British camp will need to raise the morale of Edmund for the
second singles match as he slumped in his seat at the end of the match
looking utterly crushed as Goffin celebrated wildly in front of his
fans.
British number one and world number two Andy Murray is a hot favourite to level the final when he faces Ruben Bemelmans in the second of Friday's singles match.
Edmund was a surprise choice by Great Britain captain Leon Smith
and was not given much of a chance against Goffin on the Ghent clay.
But Edmund, 20, was fearless in his shot selection as he raced
into an amazing 5-0 lead in the first set, utilising his big forehand to
devastating effect.
Goffin fought back with his first hold of the set and then broke
back to give himself a glimmer of hope. But after Goffin had held
again, Edmund saw out his next service game to give Britain an early
lead.
After stumbling at 5-0 down to recover, Edmund regained momentum
in the second set as he rattled off four straight games to open up a
4-1 lead. Goffin looked lost, perhaps struggling with the pressure of
playing in front of his home supporters as he missed easy shots.
Edmund by contrast was overflowing with confidence, a booming serve bringing up a 5-1 lead in the second set.
The Brit then benefitted from a Goffin double fault to take the
second set 6-1 – it was the second service game in a row that Goffin had
surrendered in such fashion.
Edmund continued his imperious form at the start of the third,
taking the first game courtesy of an audacious disguised volley at the
net which had Goffin sprinting in the wrong direction.
But having won seven games in a row, he then conceded the next
four. Goffin seemed to have regained the poise he had completely lost
while Edmund suddenly began to miss shots he would have easily
dispatched in the first two sets.
Edmund stemmed the bleeding to break back at 4-2 but Goffin took the next two to pull a set back.
And the Belgian levelled matters by racing through the fourth set 6-1 to set up a thrilling finale.
The writing was already on the way as Edmund began to resemble a
man playing on the Challenger Tour as his game collapsed with Goffin
rapidly improving and the 13,000 home crowd almost contributing to a lap
of honour for their man in the final set.
0 comments:
Post a Comment