Britain’s Kyle Edmund stuns world No15 Richard Gasquet to advance to US Open second round
Britain's Kyle Edmund was left surprised by the quality of his own performance after stunning 13th seed Richard Gasquet with a straight sets thrashing in the first round of the US Open.
Playing in the main draw at Flushing Meadows for the first time, Edmund stormed past three-time grand slam semi-finalist Gasquet 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 to set up a second round clash with American wildcard Ernesto Escobedo.
Former world No7 Gasquet, who has been plagued with a back problem this summer, simply had no answer to Edmund’s destructive forehand as the 21-year-old Yorkshireman chalked up the biggest win of his career.
“I went about my process and didn’t worry about who I was playing. I played better than I expected though,” said world No84 Edmund, who performed a pivotal role in Great Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final victory over Serbia in July.
“I’m obviously extremely happy. I was just in the moment for that match, and I’m enjoying it.
“The crowd were incredible and I didn’t expect this much support but I’m happy I was able to give back some really good tennis. You really feel as though you own the court when the crowd is behind you.
“I always knew that a best of five sets match here is going to be up and down but I was riding a high wave from the start to the beginning of the third set, when I was broken.
“But I kept cool and grew tougher, and when I broke him back I upped my game and really took it to him.”
Edmund’s previous best victory in terms of rankings was at the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club in June when he dispatched Gilles Simon, who was then ranked world No18. Gasquet is the current world No15.