KYLE Edmund's brave attempt to become the first Davis Cup final debutant to win a live rubber in the competition's history ended in defeat in five sets to World No 15 David Goffin. The Johannesburg-born player looked set to record one of the most eye-catching results in 115 years of the world cup of team tennis when he took the first two sets against World No 16 David Goffin in Ghent, but class and physical conditioning told in the end as the older man came through by a 6-3, 6-1, 2-6, 1-6, 0-6 scoreline. It was only the second five-set match of Edmund's entire career.
Edmund was the first man since Feliciano Lopez in 2003 to make his Davis Cup debut in a final but he opened this match like a grizzled veteran. At first, the challenge was just to keep his head above water. Serving first, it took 12 minutes and numerous deuces before Edmund was able to put a game on the board, but once he had it in his back pocket a rather remarkable match began to unfold. The pattern of the next two sets would be Edmund, swinging freely, particularly with that heavy forehand as an error-strewn Goffin retreated into himself as the thought of his potential embarrassment awaited. While the Belgian rattled off three quick games at the end of that first set, some bravura stuff from Edmund won the day - first getting the better of a long baseline rally for set point, then sealing it with an ace down the middle.
If the crowd couldn't believe what they were seeing then, they were amazed as the pattern continued into the second set. With Edmund making just one unforced error in the entire set, and Goffin's first serve percentage fown at 38%, it was fitting that a double fault on match point gave him his third break of serve and the set 6-1.
The bulk of his 13,000 crowd were fearing for their man at that point, but you don't get to World No 16 for nothing. Edmund was visibly starting to tire and the first signs of Goffin starting to eke his way back into his match arrived when he broke Edmund in the third game of the set. That soon became a double break, and while the Johannesburg-born Yorkshireman got one of them back, his serve was soon squandered for a third time and the set belonged to Belgium 6-2.
The 20-year-old - who had only once won a five-set match, albeit against Frenchman Stephane Robert on clay at Roland Garros this year - sensed the tide was turning against him and was powerless to hold it back. The fourth set went 6-1 and while British fans hoped the psychology of the match might turn when Edmund went off for a toilet break, this time Goffin was able to hold his nerve. The Belgian had his number and didn't let up, racing into a 3-0 fifth set lead and denying his young opponent a single game in a final set which took just 25 minutes to complete.
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