Nothing has been able to derail Kyle Edmund this week, not even the surprise of finding his opponent in Saturday night’s opening rubber of the Davis Cup semi-final had been changed at the last minute.
The 24 year-old Yorkshireman braved an intimidating crowd at the Caja Magica to put Great Britain 1-0 up by seeing off Spain’s last gasp replacement Feliciano Lopez 6-3 7-6 with his third win in three days.
Dan Evans was on Saturday night facing national hero Rafael Nadal before a feverish crowd of 12,500, with the prospect of a deciding doubles to decide who will face Canada in Sunday’s final.
Kyle Edmund put Great Britain 1-0 up by seeing off Feliciano Lopez in straight sets in Madrid
Andy Murray, rested yet again by Great Britain, cheers on Edmund from the stands on Saturday
Lopez, a net-rushing lefthander, had been announced shortly before the start as a replacement for right-handed baseliner Pablo Carreno Busta, who the Spanish team claimed failed a late fitness test.
Teams are allowed to make a switch up to an hour beforehand, but this news broke five minutes before he walked out on court. Such late changes are only allowed in the case of unforeseen ailments affecting the selected player.
A spokesman for the International Tennis Federation said that the move was permitted after Carreno-Busta’s leg was examined by an independent doctor.
If the whole thing was a ruse to wrongfoot GB’s third ranked player it did not work, with Edmund making an electric start from which the veteran southpaw could not recover.
‘Throughout this week, my tennis hasn’t been a problem. But when you come in different situations it can sometimes do funny things,’ said Edmund, who has made light of Andy Murray being benched as he works his way back to optimum fitness. ‘I stayed focused. I concentrated on my game, kept believing in my game, kept going after my strokes. So to control my way through and play a good breaker, it was a very good performance.’
While Lopez was much more dangerous in the second set Edmund held his nerve, winning the tiebreak 7-3 to close the match out.
Edmund – whose coaching situation has been sorted out by his link with Argentine Franco Davin – has saved the best of what has been a difficult year until last. He has not played as well as this since he occupied the world’s top fifteen.
Murray congratulates Edmund, who got Great Britain off to a flyer in the Davis Cup semi-final
Edmund braved an intimidating crowd at the Caja Magica to see off the Spaniard with ease
The altitude of Madrid adds to the firepower in his game, and Lopez struggled to control the firepower ranged at him.
While home support dominated there were 1,000 British fans in the crowd thanks to a remarkable ticket operation carried out by the Lawn Tennis Association that was sparked by an Andy Murray social media post on Friday night.
The LTA, which has received £580,000 due to the team reaching the last four, negotiated with organisers to buy 800 tickets worth around £50,000 to distribute to British fans.
Staff worked through the night to respond to inquiries received via an email address, with everything gone by 11am on Saturday morning. Some tickets went to fans already in town, while others flew in from London or travelled from other parts of Spain.
It is a hazard of this new format that many punters have to act at the last minute if they want to support their team, and realistically only the British have these sort of resources to manage such a project, admirable and generous as it was.
Meanwhile the tournament’s high profile promoter Gerard Pique was in attendance after hotfooting it back from his day job as a defender for Barcelona. He played in their afternoon 2-1 win over Leganes, which is conveniently situated only just outside the Spanish capital.
Lopez was announced as a last gasp replacement for Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta
He and colleagues at his sports marketing company Kosmos are already planning changes to the event for next year, learning from the mistakes that have been evident over this first week.
Canada’s surprisingly large contingent of fans have been a welcome addition this week and they have been rewarded by a remarkable effort from young gun Denis Shapovalov and 2014 Wimbledon quarter finalist Vasek Pospisil.
With the team hit by injuries they have played every rubber of every match to emerge as surprise finalists, and there was high drama as the makeshift doubles team edged out Russian duo Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov 7-5 in the deciding set of the deciding rubber.
The Canadians enjoyed a couple of days off in the middle of the week and had Saturday’s daytime slot, so they should be the fresher of the two finalists later on Sunday. On paper, however, they look eminently beatable.
With Bianca Andreescu having won the US Open final these are unexpectedly heady times for tennis in Canada, where the climate is hardly conducive to becoming a tennis superpower.
Gerard Pique was in attendance after hotfooting it back from his day job at Barcelona