Edmund Beats Seppi to take New York Open Title
By Brent Shearer
(February 16, 2020) UNIONDALE, NEW YORK – Britain’s No. 3 player, Kyle Edmund, extended his career dominance over Andreas Seppi, Italy, beating him 7-5, 6-1, in Sunday’s finals at the third New York Open in 81 minutes.
The match at NYCB Live’s Nassau Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum was the sixth time the two met with Edmund now holding a 5 to 1 advantage. Seppi’s only win came the one time the two played on clay.
“I came out playing my game. I didn’t get what I wanted straight away, but I kept at it and finally got a break,” Edmond said.
Sunday’s win was Edmond’s second ATP title. He won Antwerp in 2018.
The 25-year old Brit and the 35-year old Italian held serve until 6 – 5 in the first set at which point Edmund broke with a down the line backhand winner. After that, Edmund was able to relax and started to dominate his opponent.
“You like to win a set with authority, it helps you get a leg up. It forces the opponent to come up with answers to get back at you,” Edmond said.
Edmund began the second set with break and from that point on, he was off to the races. He went up 3-0 and threatened Seppi’s second service game in the set, forcing the Italian to struggle at 1-3 with four break points to avoid a second service loss.
In the following service game, Edmund hit three aces for an easy hold.
At 4-1 Seppi left the court for a medical time-out, but whatever treatment he received didn’t revive his game and Edmund broke again and closed out the match with his next service game.
Edmund’s win on the New York Open’s black courts could be the start of a come-back. He hit a high of No. 14 in 2018, the same year he made it to the Australian Open semis. But he was hampered by a left knee injury last year and tumbled down the rankings list.
Between top players pulling out and seeds losing early, Edmond found himself a strong favorite as the event went on. Nick Kyrgios and Kei Nishikori, top 30 ATP players, withdrew from the tournament before it began with injuries.
No. 1 seed John Isner, No. 2 seed Milos Raonic and the 2018 New York Open champ Kevin Anderson all lost in their first appearances. Edmunds only dropped one set in the event, although that came in a tight quarterfinal match with Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon that went 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
The tie breaker that Edmund won to take that match had a golden lining for the Brit as Kwon double faulted on match point.
Commenting on how he expects to use his New York Open win to fuel his subsequent performances, Edmund said, “I never once though about winning this tournament. I just thought about winning the next match in front of me. You get success from having the downs in your career because you learn from that. The low points, the disappointments help you to get to the happy times.”
In the doubles final, Reilly Opelka and Steve Johnson lost to Dominic Inglot and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6).
