Kyle Edmund secured his first singles rubber win in the Davis Cup after defeating Serbia's number two this weekend Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in a rain-interrupted match in Belgrade.
Tipsarevic was enjoying his return to the sport and was thoroughly looking forward to the tie after nearly two and a half years out of the game with a foot injury, followed by another injury to his knee. This was the pair's first meeting and there was a lot of pressure on Edmund's shoulders as the British number one this week.
The Brit makes a bright start
In the opening game of the match, the Brit slipped to 0-30 on serve, but responded with four points in a row, closing with a ferocious forehand cross-court winner to hold. With just three games having been played the rain came pouring down and play was suspended for an hour in Belgrade.
The break in play worked very much in Edmund's favor, breaking the former top 10 player's serve immediately, before holding to take a 4-1 lead. The world number 67 held onto that break for the remainder of the opening set, closing it out to love to win the set 6-3.
Edmund continues to perform
The Brit made a great start to the second set to maintain the momentum, breaking the Serb in the opening game, before coming through a battle on serve, saving two break points before holding for a 2-0 lead. During the course of the next game the rain, which was already pouring became heavier, forcing play to be suspended once again at 18:30 local time after just 54 minutes of tennis on day one.
Play resumed in front of a sparsely populated crowd at 20:00 local time, with both players holding their opening service games. Tipsarevic broke the Brit back in the sixth game, but Edmund responded instantly, breaking again before holding to love to move 5-3 in front. The Serb forced the world number 67 to serve out the set, but he obliged, holding to love to take the set 6-4.
Edmund broke his opponent once again at the start of the third set and quickly moved 2-0 in front to close in on giving Great Britain a 1-0 lead in the tie. The Brit, playing in just his second Davis Cup singles rubber, took full control thereafter, breaking the Serb twice more to secure the bagel set and a victory to delight the traveling supporters 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.
With the match not finishing until past 21:00 local time the organizers decided to call a halt to play for the day, rescheduling the second singles rubber between Dusan Lajovic and James Ward to be played on Saturday at 12pm local time instead, with the doubles rubber following the conclusion of that match on day two of this Davis Cup quarterfinal tie.