Andy steps up for Wimbledon

which starts on Monday. The double header yesterday, when he beat 2016 Wimbledon hero Marcus Willis 7-6, 7-6 and then overcame Jack FindelHawkins in a tough three setter 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, followed a win on Thursday.

Evans, 28, now faces another gruelling three games in main qualifying next week to make it a fairy-tale charge through to the main draw, but he denied that he was trying to prove the All England Club wrong, saying: “I have nothing to prove to anybody. I’m a good player.

“I have more got it to prove to myself than anyone else. I have made a catastrophic mistake and that’s it. No one in Wimbledon is probably bothered that I’m even through here.

“It’s not going against them or doing it for anyone. If I get through these six matches it would be a great achievement but there wouldn’t be a massive sense of satisfaction.

“I would prefer a wild card than coming through these matches. If someone says I’m not getting a wild card, I can be as peed off as I want.

“I can come here and be in a mood and play rubbish and not get through or I can play my matches and get through and then in qualifying I’ve a good chance of getting in the main draw.”

In a highly charged contest against Willis, who reached the second round in 2016 after coming through qualifying, there were some spiky moments, Evans at one point snapping: “If you are not sorry don’t say it”, after a net cord dropped in Willis’s favour.

Evans took the first set in a tiebreak, but both players were complaining about the conditions at Southland College Courts near the All England Club, especially the noise from adjoining courts.

At one point Willis shouted: “This is a f ****** g circus mate!”

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