Davis Cup final: Britain’s Kyle Edmund loses to David Goffin

World number two Andy Murray, undefeated in Britain’s journey to the final including six singles wins, plays unfancied Ruben Bemelmans later when he is expected to level the tie. Well yes. To British tennis and to Andy Murray. Murray, meanwhile, was in trouble for his language. It resulted in a long conversation between Murray and the umpire, Carlos Ramos, because the Scot had not realised he had already been warned.

Ruben Bemelmans was handed the unenviable task of trying to stop Andy Murray’s bid to win the Davis Cup final for Britain this weekend after being surprisingly picked as Belgium’s second singles player. Belgium have only reached the final once and that came 111 years ago, in the early days of the competition, when they lost to what was then the British Isles team. Edmund was visibly starting to tire and the first signs of Goffin starting to eke his way back into his match arrived when he broke Edmund in the third game of the set.

Everybody knew what to expect in the final set, as Goffin became the first player since David Ferrer in 2009 who turned around a two-set deficit in the Davis Cup final. Bemelmans is the world No 108, but like so many men of a similar ranking the left-hander has bags of talent. Not that Murray had everything his own way, with Bemelmans throwing in the occasional dink or drop-shot that was judged perfectly. Johan van Herck, the Belgian captain, now faces the hard decision whether to field his best player in this afternoon’s doubles, knowing that Goffin will have to face Murray on Sunday.

Edmund would race into a huge early advantage – going 5-0 up in the first set after the Davis Cup debutant broke on the Goffin serve in impressive style. Serving first, it took 12 minutes and numerous deuces before Edmund was able to put a game on the board, but once he had it in his back pocket a rather remarkable match began to unfold. What happened next was the most extraordinary of turnarounds in this out-of-town hangar, akin to performing a U-turn on the nearby motorway.

Heading into the third set, it seemed Goffin, ranked 16 in the world, suddenly remembered his standing and status, and how he needed to win the match if his country was to have any realistic chance of winning the trophy for the first time.

The British No 3 won the first five games, and would have won the set to love had he not missed the baseline with a forehand by the smallest of margins.

After stumbling at 5-0 down to recover, Edmund regained momentum in the second set as he rattled off four straight games to open up a 4-1 lead.

Leon Smith, Britain’s captain, may have to make an equally tough decision on Sunday if the final goes to a fifth match, in which Darcis, the Belgian No 2 and a man who has never lost a deciding final rubber, should be fresh after being rested on Friday. I did say that before the tie started. If Kyle continued playing like he was, I would have said well down. “But you’re right in the moment, you’re emotionally attached to it. You’re just disappointed you couldn’t do it for your team”.

He adds that the doubles match on Saturday will be “the pivotal match”.

Murray, though, insists it is more than just a matter of him against the Belgians on a specially prepared indoors clay court in the Flanders Expo centre as many are portraying the final to be.