• Britain’s last remaining player wins 7-6 (0), 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5
• ‘It was tough, but it was tough for him too,’ says Edmund

 

There was no hiding place from the unrelenting sun – except beneath shifting slivers of shade – on day five of the 2018 Australian Open, but the fair-skinned Yorkshireman, Kyle Edmund managed to stagger past Nikoloz Basilashvili into the fourth round of a slam for just the second time, at the age of 23.

He got this far at the US Open two years ago, losing to a prime Novak Djokovic. This time, he prevailed, taking three hours and 34 minutes – as well as probably a tube or two of sunscreen and gallons of electrolyte-treated water – to subdue the 25-year-old Georgian 7-6 (0), 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5.

It was his second five-set win of the week, having not won any of five in three years. It was the second time the loser had gone the full distance, but neither admirable warrior collapsed under the immense strain of the situation and the heat, which hit 40C mid-afternoon.

“Really good to come through again,” Edmund gasped courtside. “Fifth set, normally you can work things out and see the lines. The whole of that fifth set, the finish line seemed so far away. Physically at the end it was very demanding. When he hit that ball in the net I was so relieved. It’s not easy. The accumulation of hours and hours, there was no give, no fresh air. You either get the ball or you don’t. There’s no bluffing. It was tough, but it was tough for him too.”

Edmund’s ball-striking in the exploratory skirmishes was not as precise as in his high-grade wins over Kevin Anderson in five sets in the first round, or then Denis Istomin in three on Wednesday.

However, he had a decided advantage in power with ball in hand – seventh in the tournament list coming in – and his quickest first serve was 10kph faster at 203kph than the Georgian’s. On top of that, he struck seven early aces and Basilashvili gifted him five double faults. It was no surprise when he wrapped up the tie-break to love.

Edmund, who’d had a medical timeout for back treatment in the first set, slowed in the second and Basilashvili cut him down to level.

He struck again at the start of the third, dug in to save four break points for a 3-1 lead and the mood moved his way. Basilashvili broke for a third time and the young powerhouse from Beverley had to hold to keep the set alive. Basilashvili held in the 10^th game, though, and they went where Edmund certainly did not want to go, a fourth set.

He had shown admirable grit over four hours against Anderson on Monday, but those conditions were Arctic by comparison. It was now not so much a tennis match as a trial of the spirit. The mercury was rising; the wind was gusting at 26kph. Nerves and rackets rattled.

Edmund was applying more of the quality pressure – forcing his older opponent through three deuce points to hold at the start of the fourth set.

Then came probably the most extraordinary stretch of the tournament, certainly the longest fight to date. In the second game, at the end of a rare long rally – one of only 23 in the match lasting nine shots or more – Edmund thrashed a forehand of immense power and style to the deuce corner for break point and for the next 20 minutes the scoreboard clicked like a revolver.

Point after point, mesmerised by their mutual engagement neither would buckle. To everyone’s relief, mostly Edmund’s, a weary Basilashvili backhand drifted long and it was done, a triumph of sheer bloodymindedness in the mould of John Isner and Nicolas Mahut all those years ago at Wimbledon.

The Georgian had to win one more set, Edmund two, but the pressure was indivisible. Neither could afford a lapse in concentration. Against the trend, Edmund held quickly for 3-0. Having looked like a dot in the distance, the end now was rushing at them like a train. Basilashvili’s serve disintegrated: 0-4. Edmund’s did not, a 15^th ace helping him to 5-0. They went to deuce, but Edmund was stronger again, breaking for 6-0 – courtesy of a 16^th Basilashvili double fault – to go with 26 he had already racked up in two matches, the third highest of the tournament.

After two-and-three-quarter hours, they had stumbled, sweating and reddening, into a fifth set, a crazy place to be on a day like this. Basilashvili – who lost in the first round here a year ago – left the court for an extended breather before one final push.

In the fifth game, Edmund was presented with his 25^th break point of the afternoon, but, understandably tiring, could not convert, and, an hour after their epic 20-minute struggle in the fourth, they were locked at 3-all in the fifth.

Having littered Showcourt No2 with double-faults for more than three hours, Basilashvili now discovered a few aces, and levelled at 4-all. Edmund, with 19 aces already in the bank, double-faulted for the second time. Was this a pendulum swing? He saved a break point and fought through deuce, familiar territory, to hold.

Basilashvili held to stay in the tournament. Edmund forced him to the line again, and they went punch for punch like a pair of brain-addled heavyweights. Edmund got match point, and Basilashvili, after carefully avoiding an 18th double fault, could not handle the heat of Edmund’s muscular return pushed his closing effort into the net.