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Edmund eyes Dimitrov in first Slam quarter-final

Melbourne - British hope Kyle Edmund reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open on Sunday and set his sights on another crack at world No 3 Grigor Dimitrov.

The unseeded Edmund, ranked 49, dropped the opening set, but finished strongly to eliminate Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 and has the Bulgarian in the last eight on Tuesday.

Edmund, 23, is the only British man in this year's field after five-time finalist Andy Murray's injury withdrawal before the tournament.

In winning, he became only the sixth British man to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in the post-1968 Open Era.

"It's great to be in the quarter-finals. It's certainly my best result at a slam," Edmund said.

"It's not easy to win four matches at a Grand Slam. Definitely pleased. Shows I'm improving. Also hard work paying off."

Edmund gets another chance at Dimitrov after losing to him in three sets in the quarter-finals at this month's Brisbane International.

"It wasn't that long ago. It was a very good match. I played well, he played well," Edmund said.

"So yeah we can take things from that. There is a lot of things I did do well.

"Maybe a few things I could do better, and I will try and do that when I play him. It's a good reflection moving into this."

Edmund served up 25 aces, won 80 percent of first serve points and broke Seppi's service five times.

He hit a total of 63 winners, 27 off the forehand, with 40 unforced errors.

It continues an impressive breakout tournament for Edmund, who has eliminated US Open finalist and 11th seed Kevin Anderson, Denis Istomin and Nikoloz Basilashvili in the opening three rounds.

It was his second win from as many meetings with the experienced Seppi after beating him in two sets in Antwerp in 2016.

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