British victories continued to flow last night at the US Open as Kyle Edmund took out top-ranked American John Isner in a battle of heavy groundstrokes and even heavier serves.
Isner arguably possesses the best serve the game has ever seen, yet Edmund showed unexpectedly fine returning skills to break him three times. It was unusual, for one of Isner’s matches, that only one of the four sets went to a tie-break. Eventually Edmund prevailed by a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 margin and will now play the defending champion and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.
“Playing someone like Isner, your chances don’t come very often,” said Edmund in the on-court interview. “You’ve got to capitalise when they come, make as many balls as possible and just hustle really. I think I played the big points well, it was just coming down to a few points, I knew we weren’t going to break each other very often. I am really pleased.”
The serving contest might have favoured Isner, who landed 27 aces compared to 14 from Edmund. But as soon as the rallies began, the balance of power flipped in the other direction. Edmund’s piledriver of a forehand has become one of the deadliest strokes in the game, and he bullied the 6ft 10in Isner with it throughout. Fittingly, the final point was claimed by a huge inside-out forehand, hit so hard that his opponent could not lay a racket on it.
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Kyle Edmund defeats John Isner to set up clash with Novak Djokovic
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