Great Britain's Kyle Edmund has been defeated by Belgium's David Goffin in five sets in the opening rubber of the Davis Cup final in Ghent.
The world number 100 gave his opponent a scare early on, but Goffin recovered and went on to secure a 3-6 1-6 6-2 6-1 6-0 victory on home soil after two hours and 51 minutes.
After holding serve in the opening game of the contest, Edmund broke Goffin twice on his way to opening up a 5-0 lead in the first set. Goffin fought back with a break of his own but Edmund maintained his advantage to take the set 6-3.
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Edmund continued to look the stronger player throughout the second set, as world number 16 Goffin toiled under the pressure of playing in front of his home crowd. The Brit broke Goffin twice as he went 5-1 up, before producing another break to claim the set 6-1 and move 2-0 ahead.
Goffin improved in the third set and quickly set about reducing the arrears, breaking Edmund twice to go 4-1 ahead. Edmund came back with a break of his own but could not find a way back into the set, as Goffin broke once more on his way to taking it 6-2.
Edmund held comfortably in the opening game of the fourth, but the Brit was struggling to reproduce the tennis that had served him well earlier in the match as Goffin began to take control of proceedings. The Belgian broke twice in succession once more to move 5-1 ahead and he served out the set at the first attempt to take it to a decider.
Edmund's only previous five-set match came at Roland Garros earlier this year and the lack of experience told in the final set. Goffin needed just 27 minutes to wrap it up 6-0 and with it give the Belgians the lead in the final.
British number one Andy Murray will take on Ruben Bemelmans next, needing a win to make it 1-1 at the end of the first day.
Steven Toplis
