Edmund to face Shapovalov on day five at US Open

  • Posted: Aug 31, 2017
US Open
Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 28 Aug-10 Sept
BBC coverage: Live radio and text commentary on selected matches every day.

Britain’s Kyle Edmund will take on Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov for a place in the fourth round of the US Open in New York on Friday.

The pair will meet in the second match on Arthur Ashe Stadium at around 18:00 BST on day five at Flushing Meadows.

It will be their third meeting this year, after Edmund won their Davis Cup contest in February and Shapovalov prevailed at Queen’s Club in June.

Garbine Muguruza, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova also feature.

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Sharapova gets another night-session match on Ashe, this time against fellow wildcard Sofia Kenin of the USA.

They will follow American 10th seed John Isner against German 23rd seed Mischa Zverev from 00:00 on Saturday.

Wimbledon champion and third seed Muguruza will play Slovakian 31st seed Magdalena Rybarikova on Louis Armstrong Stadium at around 21:00.

Two-time winner Venus Williams and Marria Sakkari of Greece follow Edmund and Shapovalov on Ashe.

Croatia’s Cilic, the champion in 2014, is now the highest seed left in the bottom half of the men’s draw, and he takes on 29th seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina at 16:00.

‘It got a few YouTube hits’

Edmund, 22, will hope to extend an impressive run of form that sees him in action for the 10th time in 14 days.

The world number 42 reached the semi-finals in Winston-Salem before the US Open, and has seen off Robin Haase and Steve Johnson in New York.

“I know I’m playing well,” he told BBC Radio 5 live. “I’ve played lots of matches, hit lots of balls.

“I feel I’m reading the matches well and just want to keep that ball rolling and not make things too complicated, just keep it really simple. I think that’s when I play my best tennis.”

The Briton will need to be at his best if he is to match last year’s run to the fourth round, with 18-year-old Shapovalov in irrepressible form.

The Canadian is up to 69th in the rankings after reaching the Montreal Masters semi-finals earlier this month, beating Rafael Nadal along the way.

He took another huge step with a comprehensive straight-set win over eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Wednesday’s night session, but will not underestimate Edmund.

“He is so solid,” Shapovalov said of the British number two. “He’s an unbelievable player. He goes for his shots. He’s not afraid to take it to the guy.”

Shapovalov gained a deal of notoriety when he was defaulted from their Davis Cup match in February for hitting the umpire with a ball he struck in anger.

“I’ve come a long way from the incident,” said the Canadian. “I’ve been working extremely hard on it. It’s definitely helped me mature.”

Edmund agreed that it might well have fast-tracked Shapovalov’s progress, and found another positive to take from the experience.

“It got a few YouTube hits,” said Edmund.

“All my matches have got some thing like 5,000 or 10,000, and you go on that match and it’s something like 200,000.”

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