Kyle Edmund progressed to the semi-finals of the Nature Valley International after battling back to win his all-British encounter with Dan Evans.
The 24-year-old underlined his status as the country’s No 1 by recovering from a poor opening set to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Edmund will face the unseeded American Taylor Fritz for a place in Saturday’s final.
Evans, the British No 3, came into the contest as the form player having already won titles on grass at Surbiton and Nottingham in June. An upset looked on the cards after the 29-year-old breezed through the opening set.
He first broke Edmund in a bizarre opening game which was twice disrupted, first by a spectator choking and then by a seagull landing on the court. Edmund, who retired from the French Open last month with a knee injury, had won the only previous ATP Tour match between the players, at the 2017 Monte Carlo Masters.
His game was strewn with unforced errors in the opening set but he settled and began to assert himself on the contest to secure a break in the third game of the second set. With a vocal crowd getting behind both men, the decider remained on serve until the 10th game when Edmund eventually made the most of his fourth match point to ensure himself at least one more warm-up match before Wimbledon.
Angelique Kerber’s Wimbledon preparation gained momentum as she beat Simona Halep 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at Eastbourne. She will face the unseeded Ons Jabeur, who was made to work hard for a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Alizé Cornet.
Kiki Bertens survived a mid-match wobble to extend her dominance over world No 10, Aryna Sabalenka, beating last year’s runner-up 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. She faces Karolina Pliskova in the semi-final, who beat Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 6-0.
Liam Broady missed out on a place in the main draw of Wimbledon after blowing a two-set lead against Grégoire Barrère in the final round of qualifying to lose 3-6, 0-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.
Meanwhile, a new 12-team Fed Cup finals will take place in Budapest during April from 2020. The World Cup of Tennis format will see 20 nations battle it out for the overall title, with qualifying ties set to start in February. The total prize fund will be $18m (£14.2m), with $12m to go to the players and the remainder to the national associations.
