Dan’s clay feat sets up date with Zverev
DELIGHTED Dan Evans held his nerve to claim his first win on clay in the opening round of the Barcelona Open.
Earlier this month Evans admitted he struggled to get to grips with the surface after Great Britain lost their Davis Cup quarter-final to France.
But the Brummie finally rose to the occasion against Thiago Monteiro of Brazil, storming through a final set tie-break to triumph 6-7(4) 6-2 7-6(2).
When Evans dropped the first set he looked set to fall to another defeat against the world number 80, who holds a win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the surface.
But the British No.3 rallied to break Monteiro three times in the second set and won the first five points of the tie break to set up a second-round clash with German hope Mischa Zverev.
Fellow Brit Kyle Edmund continued his fine form on the clay as he brushed aside Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3 6-4 to storm into the second round.
The British number two, who pushed Rafael Nadal to three sets in Monte Carlo last week, will now head into a second-round match against Dominic Thiem.
Andy Murray made a late decision to play in this week’s event and the Scot will kick-off his bid for the title tomorrow.
The world No.1 will face the winner of the match between Dustin Brown and Bernard Tomic.