Kyle Edmund will take a leap into the unknown when he meets Fabio Fognini in the French Open third round.

Edmund has never played Fognini, the fiery Italian clay-court specialist who took Andy Murray to four sets at Wimbledon last year.

British number one Edmund booked his place in the last 32 with a 6-0, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.

He said: “It will be a very tough match, for sure. He plays very well on this surface. He’s had some really good results. He’s beaten Rafael Nadal.

“In terms of the match-up, I’ll speak to my coach about maybe what I need to try and do.

“It’s always sort of the same thing. With me, I try to focus on getting my game out on court first, because that gives me a good chance.

“And then certain tactics or plays you look out for when you’re playing the particular opponent.”

Edmund is the last British player standing for the third Grand Slam running.

After Johanna Konta departed on Sunday, Heather Watson fell by the wayside on Thursday morning before Cameron Norrie’s run came to an end at the hands of Lucas Pouille to leave Edmund flying the flag on his own in the singles.

As for his next opponent, he's recently launched an explicit rant towards the ATP for their Next Gen initiative.

The Italian believes youngsters are promoted way too much nowadays, which leaves the so-called bigger matches on the fringes.

For example, Denis Shapovalov's match took place on the second show court Suzanne-Lenglen on the same day where two former champions Garbine Muguruza and Svetlana Kuznetsova were bumped out onto Court 1.

This is something that has seriously angered Fognini.

"This Next Gen thing is b******t, I didn’t like all the attention that this initiative has attracted.’ Fognini raged after his second-round win over Sweden’s Elias Ymer.

"Years ago Rafa was winning Paris at 18, now we have (Denis) Shapovalov who is 25 in the world, he is improving a lot but he plays the first match on Suzanne Lenglen and the second on Court 1.

"When I see the order of play, I am stunned at seeing that Muguruza-Kuznetsova, for example, play somewhere else.

"The ATP does many good things, but I don’t agree with this one, I don’t understand this Next Gen thing. I don’t agree to all this attention given to these young players.

"They play well, [Karen] Khachanov, [Andrey] Rublev, [Alexander] Zverev, Shapovalov, they all play well, but there is such a frenzy about them, I don’t like it, I don’t agree.

"If someone plays well, he is going to get attention anyway. Winning 10-8 in the fifth on court 27, you have to go through that, not playing Federer on Chatrier.

"They have to eat more pasta, run and win matches."