Why British tennis has cause for optimism at the start of the 2017 season

As the new season starts, there is cause for optimism within the British game

Edmund is possibly the best British man to emerge since Murray (Getty)

Heather Watson and Dan Evans saw their chances of winning the Hopman Cup evaporate in the blazing heat of a typical Western Australia summer’s day, but as the new season warms up there are plenty of reminders that Andy Murray is not the only current source of British optimism.

Kyle Edmund, possibly the best British man to emerge since Murray, is through to the last eight at the Brisbane International, Aljaz Bedene has made a winning start in Chennai and Johanna Konta will play in the quarter-finals of the Shenzhen Open on Thursday.

While a second successive 3-0 defeat, this time to France, was not what Watson and Evans had been hoping for, the benefit of the round-robin format of the mixed team event here is that it guarantees all the players three singles matches and three in mixed doubles. With the Australian Open starting on Monday week, court time is crucial to everyone.

Watson and Evans, ranked No 75 and No 66 in the world respectively, are meeting higher-ranked opponents in every match this week and have yet to register a victory.

Evans was beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Richard Gasquet, the world No 18, while Watson went down 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 to Mladenovic, the world No 42. Gasquet and Mladenovic won the mixed doubles, which is being played under “Fast4” rules, 4-3, 4-3.

Watson, who took Belinda Bencic to three sets in her opening match, kept Mladenovic out on court for more than two and a quarter hours. With the temperature touching 41C – Mladenovic said the Perth Arena felt like an oven – it was good preparation for the challenges that lie ahead.

“I’m here for the match practice, to get ready for the Australian Open, and it’s good that I’ve already played a lot of tennis against high-quality players,” Watson said. “It’s a shame that I’ve lost them both, but it’s that court time that I want.”

Evans, who lost to Roger Federer in his opening match, is also grateful for the opportunity to play in a tournament where defeat does not mean you pack your bags. “I still feel a bit rusty,” Evans said. “Hopefully I’ll get better match by match, but this is good preparation for the Australian Open.”

Watson and Evans will have one more outing here, against Germany’s Andrea Petkovic and Alexander Zverev on Friday, but both are waiting to find out where they might be playing next week. Watson is hoping to play in Hobart, where she won the title two years ago, but is looking unlikely to get in because her world ranking is too low. Evans is hoping to play in Sydney or Auckland but is also waiting to find out whether he will make either field.

Watson kept Mladenovic out on court for more than two and a quarter hours (Getty)

Edmund chose to start his season in Brisbane and went through to the quarter-finals when his second-round opponent, France’s Lucas Pouille, retired hurt when trailing 6-3, 3-1. Edmund, who climbed 57 places in the world rankings in the course of 2016 to reach his current position at No 45, next faces the winner of the late-night match between Stan Wawrinka and Viktor Troicki.

Bedene is starting his campaign in Chennai, where he reached the final two years ago and the semi-finals last year. The 27-year-old Briton, who dropped out of the world’s top 100 two months ago at the end of a difficult season, beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, the world No 70, in his opening match and nowmeets Slovakia’s Martin Klizan, the world No 35 and No 4 seed.

Jamie Murray and his Brazilian partner, Bruno Soares, who were the world’s top-ranked doubles pair last year, are at the Qatar Open and play their second-round match later today against David Marrero and Nenad Zimonjic.

Konta, who in October became the first British woman to break into the world’s top 10 for 32 years, has plenty of ranking points to defend in the coming weeks after reaching the Australian Open semi-finals last year but has already made a promising start.

After victories over Cagla Buyukakcay and Vania King, Konta faces Kristyna Pliskova, the world No 60 and sister of the US Open runner-up Karolina, in Thursday’s quarter-finals.

Naomi Broady also got her season off to a winning start when she beat Danka Kovinic 7-6, 6-3 in the first round at the rain-affected Auckland tournament, but the world No 90 lost her second match of the day when she went down 7-5, 6-4 to Germany’s Julia Goerges.

Laura Robson, who at No 221 in the world is still trying to rebuild her career following wrist surgery, attempted to qualify in Auckland but was beaten 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 by Tereza Martincova in a marathon match that lasted more than two and a half hours. In the doubles Robson and Marina Erakovic are through to the second round after beating Alicja Rosolska and Taylor Townsend 6-1, 7-5.