Australian Open 2019: Kyle Edmund knocked out as Tomas Berdych makes light work of British No 1

Unseeded Berdych was among the most dangerous opponents Edmund could have faced in the first round, and so it told as the Czech powered to a comfortable victory

(Getty)

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months after enjoying his biggest breakthrough by reaching the semi-finals here at the Australian Open, Kyle Edmund went out of the tournament on Monday’s opening day when he was beaten 6-3, 6-0, 7-5 by Tomas Berdych.

Edmund, who withdrew from last week’s Sydney International with a knee problem, looked well below his best. The 23-year-old Briton faced a challenging first-round draw and would surely have needed to be at the top of his form to beat a player who has been one of the world’s best for more than a decade.

Berdych, a former world No 4, missed the last six months of last year with a back problem but in his comeback tournament in the first week of the current campaign he reached the final in Doha. The 33-year-old Czech, who currently stands at No 57 in the world rankings, was always going to be a dangerous floater in the draw here and Edmund, the No 13 seed, was the man to draw the short straw.

Having reached the quarter-finals here seven times in the last eight years, Berdych describes this as his favourite Grand Slam tournament. He dominated from the start as Edmund struggled to handle his thunderous serves and groundstrokes.

“It wasn’t nice losing,” Edmund said afterwards. “It was a one-sided defeat as well, clearly not what I wanted. Not a lot of fun. But for me, it just shows where I'm at at the minute and how much and where I have to improve. I’ve got to let the defeat settle and get back to work.”

Asked about his fitness, Edmund said that he was “not 100 per cent” but “a lot better than where I was”. He added: “These things take time. The body's not so simple, as you can see with other people. It's frustrating. But it's my choice to walk out there.”

On a day of sweltering heat, with the temperature topping 36C, Edmund was immediately on the back foot as Berdych broke him to 15 at the first attempt and raced into a 3-0 lead before taking the first set in just 29 minutes. With less than an hour on the clock, Edmund was two sets down as he struggled to find any sort of rhythm.

Berdych has one of the game’s biggest serves and conceded only eight points on it in the first two sets. The Czech struck the ball cleanly from the start and appeared to be on course for a quickfire victory until Edmund finally started to find his stride in the third set.

When Berdych served at 4-5 and 30-30, Edmund went to set point with a thumping inside-out forehand winner, but the Briton was unable to convert it as his opponent responded with a forehand winner of his own. It was Edmund’s only break point of the match and Berdych promptly went on to hold serve for 5-5.

Tomas Berdych celebrates his victory over Kyle Edmund (EPA)

Edmund went 40-0 up in the following game but then lost four points in a row. He saved one break point with a big serve, but Berdych went on to secure his fifth and final break of the match with two successive forehand winners.

Berdych, who hit 37 winners to Edmund’s 25 and made just 14 unforced errors to his opponent’s 36, served out for victory in emphatic fashion with his 12th ace of the match.

Edmund, currently the world No 14, could drop out of the top 30 after this tournament but said he was confident he could get back to his best.

“I've still got lots of years to play, so obviously I'm confident I'll be playing at a good standard again,” he said. “But you're always itching, competitive, want things done immediately. You just have to have patience and give stuff time to get better, including my game.”

Cameron Norrie, the British No 2, was unable to build on his run to the final in Auckland last week and was beaten 6-3, 7-6, 6-2 by the American Taylor Fritz, the world No 50, who will be his doubles partner here.