Sheddie wrote:

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Back to Vienna, I remember Kyle lost a close one to Ferrer on the North American hard courts back in the summer. Started well but then ran out of gas

Ferrer used to win these kind of tournaments for fun back in his pomp but at 35 he's not the force he was a year or two ago, lost to Schwartzman in Antwerp quarters last week. It'll be a tricky match but a good one for Kyle to pull through.

As an side point, does anyone else feel that Kyle should add a few more ATP 250s in his scheduling? While 2017 has definitely been a development year for him, particularly against the top players, he seems to make things slightly harder for himself by compiling a schedule based largely around ATP 500s and Masters events. And as a result, week-in, week-out he comes up against the big guns early on, and never gets a chance to get much momentum or confidence flowing.

I was surprised not to see him compete last week, would have been a chance to pick up a few wins in a slightly weaker field and come into the tougher two events with more confidence

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Interesting one. We have had in recent times what I am sure most folk regard as nonsense regarding Kyle possibly dropping back to Challengers. But I hadn't really considered  ATP 500 vs ATP 250 ( I guess we would want Kyle playing Masters when he can ).

Kyle has actually played in rather more ATP 250s events than ATP 500s this year and not surprisingly these have brought him more success. With possibly more particularly lack of Masters wins going into Slams, Kyle has twice this season made late entries into ATP 250s, Lyon in advance of the French Open and Winston-Salem in advance of the US Open. Slight problem with Winston-Salem was that it went almost too well and had him playing 7 matches, including qualifying, in the week before a Slam and that may have conspired against him in a US Open that literally did become very open, but where a maybe not unrelated injury caused his retirement and tiredness might have become more of an issue in time. A tactical withdrawal in Winston-Salem at some stage may have been an option, having shown the flexibility to play there in the first place.

Ideally you want a well planned though adaptable schedule testing yourself at the best level but also giving yourself matches ( which Kyle has lacked at times this year not by not being generally competitive but more not ultimately getting the wins ). So a slight dilemma, particularly in being often so relatively close against very good players, in that he no doubt wants to keep giving himself a shot, learn and maybe get the job done next time. I guess much depends on the individual too, their motivations and their relative need of plenty matches.

Kyle's 2017 so far overall :

Davis Cup : 1 win and 3 losses from 2 ties.

Slams : 6 wins, 4 losses from 4 events.

ATP 1000 : 4 - 7 from 7.

ATP 500 : 2 - 5 from 5.

ATP 250 : 13 - 9 from 9, plus 4 qualifying wins.

L16:  (3) Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares (BRA) CR 19 (9+10) defeated Andrés Molteni & Diego Schwartzman (ARG/ARG) CR 196 (46+151) by 6-2 7-6(5)

*****

QF:  (3) Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares (BRA) CR 19 (9+10) vs Karen Khachanov & Lucas Pouille CR 333 (150+183)

L32:  Kyle Edmund WR 63 defeated David Ferrer (ESP) WR 29 by 6-2 7-6(5) 

I thought he might stand a chance, given that Ferrer is now 35, butstill every bit the wily old scrapper, so I didn't imagine that it could be that straighforward! 

L16:  Kyle Edmund WR 63 vs (Q) Dennis Novak (AUT) WR 284 (CH = 196 in July last year)