Heartbreak for Naomi Broady in night match against Daria Gavrilova
Tuesday 17 January 2017 15:41, UK
Kyle Edmund and Heather Watson both won to make it five British players in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne for the first time since six made it through in 1987.
Edmund was in fine form as he saw off Colombia's Santiago Giraldo 6-2 7-5 6-3, while Watson overcame 18th seed Sam Stosur 6-3 3-6 6-0.
Andy Murray and Dan Evans won on Monday, and Johanna Konta came through against Kirsten Flipkens earlier on Tuesday.
Edmund had fallen at the first hurdle in Melbourne on both of his two previous attempts but the 22-year-old outclassed Giraldo to win 6-2 7-5 6-3.
He will meet Pablo Carreno Busta, the Spanish 30th seed and beneficiary of a fifth-set retirement from Canadian Peter Polansky.
Busta beat Edmund comfortably when they met at a Futures event in Spain three years ago but the Briton has improved immeasurably since then and will carry a genuine threat of an upset.
It was a baseline battle and Edmund was the winner, too consistent for Giraldo to keep up and his rasping forehand too heavy for the Colombian.
Watson had to dig deep to see off Stosur, eventually prevailing after a two hour, 15 minute-tussle with the Australian No 1, who made 47 unforced errors.
The rejuvenated Briton forced Stosur out of her comfort zone by initiating long rallies and took full advantage of the Australian's wayward ground shots.
"There were some very long games and I had a slow start in both of the first two sets - in the third I wanted to make her work," said Watson, who had lost in the first round in her last three visits to Melbourne Park.
"Sam's a great player - she's beaten me both times before. I felt I prepared really well and felt fit in that third set."
Naomi Broady pushed local favourite Daria Gavrilova all the way but fell just short of inflicting another British upset as she lost 3-6 6-4 7-5.
Gavrilova, who made the fourth round 12 months ago, goes through to meet Croatia's 19-year-old Ana Konjuh.
Check our game-by-game updates from Andy Murray's second-round match against Andrey Rublev at the 2017 Australian Open by following our blog on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad or our Twitter account @skysportstennis on Wednesday morning.
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