Kyle Edmund eased into this French Open on Tuesday with a three-set workout against Alex de Minaur that confirmed his status as one of his sport’s punishing cruiserweights, even if his opponent had the physical aura of a schoolboy.
Napoleon, once of this parish, famously had a complex about his size, and bloodied a nose or two across Europe before the weight of his enemies crushed his ambitions. On day three of his second visit to Roland Garros, De Minaur – yet to reach 11st, standing a tad under 6ft and one of six teenagers in the draw – stuck doggedly to a muscular game that shone in bursts but ultimately played into Edmund’s unforgiving hands.
While Edmund took less than two hours to win 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, the British No 1 acknowledged on court that it was not as easy as the numbers might suggest.
De Minaur – the hustling young wildcard, who lives in Spain with his family and burst on to the scene in his native Australia in January – broke once from four chances but made inroads on his serve that stretched Edmund in the second set.
“I played well, with intent,” Edmund said. “I knew the game style – me dictating the points, him making a lot of balls, forcing me to come up with the answers. I gave up too many points with errors in the second set, and double faults, but in the third set I got it back.
“Conditions were a little heavier at the start but, when the sun came out at the end, the ball was pinging off the court a bit more. Throughout the match my concentration was generally very good. It’s something that doesn’t come overnight, and he’s the sort of opponent who is really up for the battle if he gets a sniff.”
Edmund has a day to rest before taking on the world No 45, Marton Fucsovics, who defeated the Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (5) on Court No 12. The 26-year-old Hungarian is coming off a win in the Geneva final against Peter Gojowczyk, who was beaten by Cameron Norrie on Monday.
This was always going to be a tricky opening fixture for Edmund, even though he is protected from the tournament’s bigger beasts for a while by his 16th seeding. De Minaur, who hits and chases with a flourish, refused to back down at any stage, which was both his strength and his weakness.
Most of his success sprang from machine-gun thrashes and determined running down of half-chances, but his potency dimmed as the lactic acid drowned out the adrenalin.
He is Australia’s No 5 and oozes promise. He has the rare gift of being able to compartmentalise the point, ignoring the one just wasted and embracing those left. He showed that tunnel vision when he was 3-1 down in the first set yet pushed Edmund in every rally, getting back to 2-5 before the favourite served out just on the half‑hour.
De Minaur, ahead in the serving cycle, moved through the early stages of the second set with renewed energy. He got break point in the second game but Edmund, unhappy with a line call, was fired up as he wrong-footed him with a rifled forehand on the way to a crucial hold.
Edmund’s concentration dipped again and he found himself under pressure on his serve in the fourth game. But, as in the first set, he found the big guns when he needed them and levelled.
His thin teenage foe struggled to maintain his buzzing tempo and Edmund broke for 3-2. They exchanged breaks in a knife-edge stretch illuminated by some brilliance on both sides of the net, before Edmund regathered his composure to serve out for a 2-0 lead – about the same time as Rafael Nadal was wrapping up a tense three‑setter in the tie-break against Simone Bolelli, held over from the previous evening.
Edmund still had work to do but there was always going to be more weight left in his punch. And only after being broken in the third did De Minaur begin to fade, recognising perhaps that he was banging his fists up against a tank.
As the sun finally shoved the clouds aside, Edmund held to love for 4-2 and despondency spread across De Minaur’s young features, even as he continued to let the blows flow, the final one too long, bringing the fight to a merciful conclusion.
