Kyle Edmund at Wimbledon 2018: British No1 through to second round with straight sets win over Alex Bolt

Job Done | Edmund through to the second round
REUTERS/Andrew Boyers
James Benge3 July 2018

Kyle Edmund overcame a brief third-set wobble to book his place in the second round of Wimbledon with a straight sets victory over world No.204 Alex Bolt.

Edmund needed just an hour and 43 minutes to secure his victory 6-2, 6-3, 7-5, a margin of victory that would have been even more emphatic but for some jitters in the early knockings of the third, which Bolt came within a point of claiming.

The No.21 seed had some initial trouble reading Bolt’s slicing serve, which on more than one occasion kept too low for him, but once he got his eye in there was little that the Australian could offer to unduly test him.

All too often Bolt’s ground strokes succumbed to unforced errors, forehands skewing wide and far too many balls connecting with the racket frame rather than the strings.

Meanwhile Edmund scarcely put a foot wrong, indeed not once in the first two sets did he lose a point off a first serve, breaking twice in the first and in the fifth game of the second.

The start of the third set brought surprise travails for the Brit, who faced two break points in the opening game. Though he saved them he was not so lucky in the fifth, when he netted a forehand as Bolt, with nothing left to lose, went on the offensive and secured a break of serve.

Bolt could not entirely eradicate the errors from his game he proved to be a more fearsome opponent in the third, hitting hard and aggressively charging at the net. It was enough to spook Edmund, who found himself facing set point only to respond with a purely-struck crosscourt forehand. Another excellent shot set up break-back point that ended with Bolt sending a backhand long.

The Australian’s brave resistance was ended and it was little surprise when Edmund wrapped up the match with a break soon after, Bolt miscuing a volley into the net as the British No.1 marched on to the next round.

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