Goffin Puts Belgium 1-0 In Davis Cup Final

David Goffin rescued Belgium’s hopes in the final of the Davis Cup as he came from two sets down to beat Britain’s Kyle Edmund in five sets.

Edmund, who was making his Davis Cup debut in the final at the age of 20, made an exceptional start and outplayed his higher ranked opponent for over an hour.

Kyle Edmund in action
(Picture from e1.365dm.com)

Even so Goffin, ranked 16 in the world, showed his experience to turn the match around and win 3-6 1-6 6-2 6-1 6-0 on the clay court at the Flanders Expo Arena in Ghent, Belgium.

It was a match that the hosts had to win, with Andy Murray due to play in the next three matches of the tie for Britain. Goffin’s victory puts Belgium 1-0 in the final, with Murray due to play Ruben Bemelmans in the reverse singles.

Edmund got the nod over fellow singles player James Ward to play in the opening singles, after winning a challenger on clay in Buenos Aires two weeks ago.

The Brit, who is ranked 100 in the world, made the perfect start and after saving two break points in the opening game he raced into an astounding 5-0 lead.

Edmund’s heavy groundstrokes and potent serve helped him out power the higher ranked Goffin in the early exchanges.

The Belgian managed to spare some blushes as he recovered to 5-3 but it wasn’t enough to save the opening set.

Goffin’s nerves were clearly getting the better of him and the errors continued to fly off the Belgian’s racket.

Edmund continued to dominate and after breaking his opponent early in the second, he went on to claim a two set lead after a Goffin double fault.

however from there Goffin began to demonstrate some of the qualities which has seen him rise to 16 in the world, he began to claw his way back into the match which quickly turned in the Belgian’s favour.

He broke Edmund twice at the start of the third and despite conceding one break straight back he wrapped up the set moments later.

Edmund, who has only won one match at Grand Slam level at this year’s French Open, began tire, and his cutting shots which were finding their mark early on began to drift astray.

The Brit called for the trainer mid-way through the fourth set and things went south from there.

 Goffin’s confidence grew stronger and by the end of the match he was in full flow, he went on to win 12 of the last 13 games to give Belgium a much needed lead in the overall tie.