ANDY MURRAY suffered a double scare at the hands of Kyle Edmund in the latest Battle of Britain.
Murray yelled as he slipped to the ground when wrong-footed by Edmund and then dropped his first set against a fellow Brit for nearly 11 years.
But the Scot put his protégé in his place in the decider, running out a 6-4 3-6 6-1 winner and earning an Aegon Championships semi final against 2012 winner Marin Cilic.
Murray said: “I’ve trained with Kyle a lot so I know how good he is.
“He’s a big strong guy with a powerful game. When he’s on, he’s very tough to play against in practice and I felt it in the match today.
“I was a little bit disappointed with the second set.
“I just tried to up my intensity and be more aggressive. It worked.”
For two sets, Edmund gave a very good account of himself against the man he admits is his biggest inspiration in tennis.
Edmund said: “I’m pleased with the way I played.
“Andy showed why he has been so tough to beat and been at the top of the game for so many years.
“It’s a bit weird that you are looking up to someone and you then have to see them almost as your enemy on the court.
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Edmund responded superbly to being broken in the fourth game, hitting back immediately and then holding serve to move into the lead.
Queen’s was celebrating its four-time champions, and one of them, Boris Becker, will have particularly appreciated the way Murray – who is another – produced a diving volley to create the decisive second break in the first set.
But Edmund would not go away.
This time he broke serve first and when Murray hit back, he broke again, sending Murray tumbling to the turf in the process.
The Scot was not seriously hurt but failed to convert three break points when Edmund was serving for the set and so suffered unfamiliar damage on the scoreboard.
Tim Henman was the last British man to take a set of Murray in a competitive match, back in October 2005 in Basel.
But Murray showed why Edmund will have to wait a while before he can think of deposing him as British No 1, finding a new gear and ruthlessly crushing his young apprentice in the deciding set.
The Scot rattled off five straight games in under 20 minutes before Edmund stopped the rot and then served it out, saving a break point in the process.
Murray said: “Kyle is the future of the game in this country.
“If he is given time and a little bit of space to develop, with not too much pressure in results, he can go very far.”
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