Britain’s Kyle Edmund followed up his surprise win over Novak Djokovic by beating Belgium’s David Goffin on Thursday to march into the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open.
Edmund had lost in five sets to Goffin when they last met, also on clay, in the 2015 Davis Cup but the 23-year-old’s rise has been sharp since then and this was a completely different contest.
The Briton won it 6-3, 6-3, breaking Goffin’s serve twice in the first set and once in the second, to move into the last eight of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career.
Goffin is no slouch on clay. He reached the French Open quarter-finals last year and made the semis in Barcelona earlier this month. He is also only the second top-10 player Edmund has beaten, coming four months after the Yorkshireman ousted world number three Grigor Dimitrov at the Australian Open.
Djokovic, recently back from injury, is currently under-ranked at 12th.
Edmund will face a Canadian, either Denis Shapovalov or Milos Raonic, for a place in the semi-finals, with Alexander Zverev a possible foe in the last four. Rafael Nadal lurks in the other half of the draw.
Goffin is one of the most consistent baseliners in the game but he simply was unable to cope with Edmund’s heavier weight of shot.
After breaking twice to seal the first set, Edmund spurned one match point at 5-2 on Goffin’s serve and then delivered a double fault a game later to set nerves jangling.
But, just as he had done against Djokovic the day before, Edmund did not waver, serving out when a Goffin forehand hit the net to confirm victory in a brief hour and 12 minutes.
