US Open 2017: Kyle Edmund through but Alexander Zverev suffers shock defeat
Unseeded Croatian Borna Coric ends the campaign of fellow 20-year-old Alexander Zverev
Thursday 31 August 2017 17:58, UK
Kyle Edmund booked his place in the last 32 of the US Open after knocking out a second seed but Alexander Zverev became the highest seed to crash out.
With Cameron Norrie and Aljaz Bedene losing their matches on Wednesday to join Johanna Konta and Heather Watson in exiting early, Edmund is now the only Brit remaining in the singles.
The British No 2 has been in good form having reached the semi-finals of Winston Salem last week, beating Johnson on route to the last four and he picked off the American again in New York.
"It's more of a shame really," said Edmund when asked about his position.
"It's not like it's, 'oh, well done, you're the last Brit'. It's a shame that a few of us have lost early and obviously Andy was injured but I guess in another way it's good there's some more depth in British tennis that we're able to have other people go further."
Edmund, who reached the fourth round last year, came through in straight sets, winning 7-5 6-2 7-6 (7-4) to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for only the second time in his career and he will next face Denis Shapovalov who ended Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's hopes.
The 18-year-old Canadian has been making huge strides having beaten Rafael Nadal on his way to the Montreal semi-finals and he was too good for Frenchman Tsonga winning 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-3).
Edmund faces a tough ask against in-form Shapovalov, the pair have one win each from their two matches, although the first of them garnered the headline as the teenager defaulted in their Davis Cup match when he launched a tennis ball into the face of the chair umpire.
"It's a big one to get through. I'm very happy. I came out with my level the way it was, did what I needed to do, the tactics, controlling the match," said Edmund.
"The first two sets, I always felt in control. The third one was big because those key points, they're what change matches. I played some good points when I needed to in the tie-break and I'm very happy to close it out in three."
A packed third day at Flushing Meadows saw a host of the big names in action earlier in their day getting their tournament underway with routine wins but that was not the case for fourth seed Zverev.
The German is widely seen as a future world No 1 and has claimed two Masters titles already this year, but he continued his poor form at the Grand Slams with a four-set defeat to Borna Coric.
Zverev has only once reached the second week of the majors, at Wimbledon earlier this year, and defeat continues a miserable record in New York where he is yet to go beyond the second round.
"The way I played was upsetting, the tournament so far is upsetting for me," said Zverev who was beaten 3-6 7-5 7-6 7-6.
"I know that I could have done some big things here. I know that I could have done something that I haven't done before.
"I was the highest-ranked player in the bottom half of the draw after Andy retired. The draw is pretty open in the bottom part. I felt like I should have been the favored there.
"I just played a very, very bad match, so it's unfortunate. But that's how it is."
Zverev's defeat leaves 2014 champion Marin Cilic as the highest ranked player in the bottom half of the draw. The Croatian took Murray's spot in the draw and with Zverev and Tsonga out, John Isner is the highest rank seed he could face.
Wimbledon runner-up Cilic eased past Florian Mayer, winning 6-3 6-3 6-3 and will next face 29th seed Diego Schwartzman while Isner beat Hyeon Chung in straight sets.
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