Kyle Edmund to face Andreas Seppi in final of NY Open on Sunday

Kyle Edmund is in a place he always has hoped to be.

Andreas Seppi is in a place he hasn’t been for awhile.

Edmund booked his place in the final of the New York Open with a convincing 6-1, 6-4 win over Miomir Kecmanovic in the first semifinal at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum on Saturday.

Seppi beat qualifier Jason Jung in the night semi, 6-3, 6-2, to set up Sunday's final.

Edmund, 25, has been focused on the top-tier players in the game ever since he reached an Australian Open semifinal in 2018 and won his first and only tournament at Antwerp that same year. The flashy Brit reached No. 14 in the world, but he was 62nd entering this event as he claws his way back from a left knee injury early in 2019.

Italian Seppi, 35, is lanky and languid with three career titles, the last in 2012. He reached his last final a little more than a year ago in Sydney, Australia.

This is pretty much a surprise final pairing as Edmund is looking to find his form and Seppi is in the twilight of a solid pro career.

Jung had taken out defending champion Reilly Opelka in a quarterfinal and 2018 champion Kevin Anderson in the first round. Jordan Thompson ousted the tournament’s No. 1 seed, John Isner, in the second round. Soonwoo Kwon took out the second seed, Milos Raonic, also in the second round.

Edmund was better in every aspect of his match by serving efficiently, returning with purpose, getting on top of balls on the baseline and ripping his inside-out forehand. He was even better with his challenges.

In the second game of the second set, Kecmanovic was up 40-30 and served what he thought was a second-serve ace to win the game. Edmund challenged, the ball was shown to be out, thus a double fault, and the score went to deuce. Edmund hit a backhand winner, Kecmanovic made a forehand error and Edmund got his first break. He closed out the set with little opposition.

While Kecmanovic managed to hold his first four serves of the second set, he never got any momentum. Edmund broke him at love in the ninth game, then served three straight aces to start the 10th with Kecmanovic essentially waving at the ball.  Kecmanovic returned long on the fourth point and Edmund was through to Sunday’s final, the third of his career.

“Today I came out aggressive, confident,” Edmund said. “He came back, in the second set, back and forth, sparring against each other, trying to win the battles. My resilience in the end proved a little bit too much.”

Reaching the final here is validation of both the hard work to recover from the injury and the rise in confidence it takes to be a consistent winner.

“It definitely helps when you have confidence in your body,” Edmund said. “You feel like you're able to give your best. My type of game is a quite physical, explosive game. You need to have the strength you know that can deliver match after match.”

He holds a 4-1 match advantage over Seppi, whom he beat in Auckland in January.

“I think I played a really solid match today from the beginning to the end,” Seppi said.

In the Auckland loss, it was Seppi's second match of the day. And though he lost in two sets, he got to a tiebreak in the second to make it close.

“[Edmund's] a tough player, especially indoors, a big forehand,” Seppi said. “It’s going to be for sure a very tough match.”