Evans forgets split to breeze through

DAN EVANS proved he is serious about no longer fooling around as he reached the US Open second round.

The British No2, below, defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 at Flushing Meadows and showed no ill effects from his split from coach David Felgate.

Evans, ranked 58th in the world, says he no longer has time “to be p ****** around” after his year ban for taking cocaine.

He swatted aside Mannarino, one place above him in the rankings, to avenge his first-round defeat by the Frenchman at Queen’s last year. Evans, 29, dropped just three service games in the match, which lasted a little over three hours, and the only hiccup was losing the fourth set. But he held firm to keep alive his hopes of bettering his best Slam of the year – the third round at Wimbledon.

He also reached the US Open third round on his last appearance three years ago.

The British No1 revealed how she won the support of the Marvel movie star after he approached her in New York to reveal he was a big fan. Hiddleston is currently starring on stage in Betrayal on Broadway, but he looked on in Queens after their chance encounter as Konta was fearless at Flushing Meadows.

The 16th seed advanced to the second round of the US Open for the first time in three years and eased concerns about her form after she had slipped to firstround defeats in her last two tournaments.

Konta, who reached the French Open semi-finals and Wimbledon quarter-finals this year, saw off tricky opponent Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in front of an enthusiastic crowd, many of whom, like Hiddleston, were Brits.

She said: “We only met a few days ago and he turns out to be a big tennis fan and so I invited him down. I’d rather not say where we met, in case it encroaches on his privacy, but we literally just crossed paths.

“I said to myself, ‘Don’t bother him, he’s obviously busy’ and then he actually said, ‘I don’t usually do this, but I’m a massive fan’. We got chatting and he’s super nice and some of his co-stars came along to the match, as well as a group of my friends.

“I’m a fan – I thought ‘The Night Manager’ was great Konta plays a two-handed return on her way to first-round victory over Daria Kasatkina