British No3 Kyle Edmund beats Gilles Simon to record the biggest win of his career
Three-set triumph over French world no18 Simon at Aegon Championships in Queen's moved 21-year-old into 2nd round
KYLE EDMUND hit Top Gear by recording the biggest win of his career to move into the second round of the Aegon Championships.
British No 3 Edmund overcame world No 18 Gilles Simon - a man ranked 67 places above him - 6-4 3-6 6-1 as the Frenchman’s serve fell apart in the deciding set of a rain-interrupted match.
But Edmund, whose previous best victory was against world No 55 Jiri Vesely in March, will not care one bit as former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson watched him triumph.
The 21-year-old said: “It’s the first time I have played on this court.
“The home support I really like. It’s something you don’t get to experience for the rest of the year because you are playing abroad.
“I had a mental lapse at the end of the second set. But when I came out of the dressing room for the second time, I really took my game to him.”
[boxout featured-image="1288743"]DAN EVANS came close to recording his first top level win for two years but crashed out of Queen’s.
British No 4 Evans went down 7-6 6-7 6-3 to France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu but had his chances to set up a second-round clash with Kyle Edmund and so make it four Brits in the last 16.
Evans broke the Mathieu serve in the opening game but faltered when serving for the set, apparently being distracted by the movement of a ballgirl at 5-4 30-all.
The Brit had three set points in the tiebreak but could not take any of them, and Mathieu converted his first one to take the breaker 10-8.
The game looked up when Evans was broken in the first game of the second set and was a break point down in the third.
But he rallied and had a set point at 4-5 30/30 on Mathieu serve.
The Frenchman saved it and the pair went off briefly because of a light shower. Evans held his nerve after seeing two more set points slip away in the 12th game and took the tiebreak 8-6.
The decider went with serve until Evans was broken in the eighth game. He saved two match points and even had a chance to break back, but world No 61 Mathieu eventually served it out.[/boxout]
Edmund recovered from the disappointment of Simon breaking back to level the first set at 4-4 by once again taking the Frenchman’s serve and then holding his own.
But Simon looked the more likely winner after taking the second.
Edmund had just held serve from 0/40 down when a brief shower forced the players off at 2-1 in the Brit’s favour.
And after the break, Simon’s yips on the ball toss wreaked havoc with his game and Edmund took full advantage.