Pleased for Kyle that he's avoided qualies (at least for this week - next week is still in the balance).

And his draw is tough (the whole field looks decent quality) but could be worse, all things considered.

One big plus for everyone in the bottom half is avoiding Pablo Carreno-Busta. He's a Special Except once again. Although not particularly highly ranked, he's a recent top 150 player, who seems to have been injured throughout almost all of the 2012 season, and therefore completely lost his ranking. He has played 4 $10ks so far this year in his comeback all on clay. A final then a win in Turkey, followed by 2 further wins in a row the last 2 weeks in Spain! Which is 15 wins in a row and 19 of his last 20!

Having given him a mention, and assuming s*d's law still applies, he'll probably lose in round 1!

Kyle won 6-3 6-3. More to follow !!

Bob. No pressure, but I'm expecting a full game by game summary, detailed match statistics including Hawkeye analysis, and a video interview with Kyle out on the court itself. Least you can do for us.

Looking forward to it! Seriously, though, hope you enjoyed your day!

 

paulisi wrote:

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Bob in Spain wrote:

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Kyle won 6-3 6-3. More to follow !!

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 That's a scalp if it's confirmed

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I'd almost turn it round....in terms of low ranked unseeded "floaters" in any $10k draw, Kyle is probably one of your worst nightmares as a player in the 200s or 300s.

If anyone ever catches me coming on this forum and bragging about the wonderful Spanish weather again, please feel free to remind me of the day I stood in the freezing rain, watching Kyle play in what I can only describe as the worst conditions I have ever seen for a pro tennis match. Had it been on grass or hard court as opposed to the "mud" of Murcia, the match would never have started - let alone been played to a conclusion. It was mid afternoon, the spectators sheltered under umbrellas as the rain got gradually heavier throughout the game. It was mid afternoon, but they still had to put the floodlights on !!

I had the pleasure of chatting with Kyle (and "Beechy" - his coach) for an hour or so as we waited for his match. He strikes me as a very mature young man. The phrase "old head on young shoulders" was never more appropriate. And I think this is one of his strongest assets as he doesn't let adversity get to him during a match and seems to play his best tennis during those pressure moments. He spoke very sensibly about his progress, his motive for sticking where possible to clay courts and then even more passionately about his new car - a latest version VW Golf !!

The match itself was never in any serious doubt. Despite being broken in the 1st game, he broke straight back and was never behind in the set. The other guys serve was constantly under pressure and a break for 5-3 put Kyle in the driving seat. And despite facing a breakpoint whilst serving the set out, he managed to hold and take out the set 6-3.

It was noticeable the the conditions were playing a major part. Kyle undoubtedly had more weight to his ground strokes, but this was very much negated by the wet balls, which made hitting winners more difficult. This became even more apparent when new balls came out early in the second set, allowing Kyle to apply the pressure and race to a 5-2 lead with a double break. Then suddenly, an unforced error and a double fault and he lost his serve. But as I said, he doesn't panic when things go wrong. And he duly upped his game again to break to 15 and complete a comprehensive win 6-3 6-3.

His coach looked nervous right up to the end. (Truth is, I probably did too, but I didn't have a mirror to check on myself!). I asked Beechy at what point he started to relax. He said, "after the last point". He then went on to add that he was feeling a bit of "deja vu" from Kyle's last match in the USA where he lead 6-3 5-2 and then lost his serve. As we all know, he went on to lose that match in 3 sets. Apparently that was nothing more than a typical momentum shift that can happen in a match.

So all in all, an excellent day - despite the weather. A comprehensive win against a higher ranked opponent in the bag and hopefully, plenty more to come.

Exactly a year ago, I first saw Kyle play. It was on the same court, as an unranked "kid" against Mark Vervoort in the qualies here in Murcia. He won 6-0 6-4 that day. So convincing was he, that I made my first ever post on this forum in order to state that Kyle Edmund was "one to watch". One year later, I stand by that statement.

korriban wrote:

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Thanks for that Bob. Great to get flavour, and an added bonus about what went wrong a few weeks back. Are you there tomorrow or later in the week?

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Looks like his next game will be on Thursday.  My chances of being there are 50/50 at the moment.  Need to find another original excuse to "bunk-off" from work.  Any ideas ?

And sorry about the on-court interview, but my cameraman and sound technician couldn't cope with the rain

Maybe next time.