Evans revels in his biggest win so far
Dan Evans grabbed the biggest win of his career by beating world number seven Marin Cilic at the Australian Open – and did it wearing a £20 T-shirt he bought himself.
Evans stunned Cilic with a 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-3 victory in his first ever grand slam success against a top-10 player and the biggest shock in Melbourne so far.
The 26-year-old from Solihull’s gutsy display enthralled a packed crowd on outer Court Three, earning him a thirdround meeting with Australia’s big-serving but temperamental Bernard Tomic.
The British No 3 scored his first ever top-10 scalp against Dominic Thiem en route to the Sydney International final last week but, at number seven, not only is Cilic ranked one higher than the Austrian, the scale and stage of this triumph gave it far greater significance.
“It’s definitely the biggest win of my career,” Evans said.
“It’s a proper win. Last week was three sets against Thiem. Five sets is the ultimate test, I think. It was really good. I think I played as well as I can play today.”
Stan Wawrinka had to save match point against Evans before winning the US Open in September and this triumph proved his performance against the Swiss was no fluke.
Evans, however, failed to close out at Flushing Meadows and he admitted his missed opportunity there had come to mind when Cilic saved two of three match points.
“I still thought about that match on the court today. It’s not easy when you had the opportunity to sort of close out the big match and then lose,” Evans said.
“I thought about it at 40-30, last game, last match point. I didn’t want to go down the other end, sit down and serve for it.
“I didn’t think I did much wrong actually in the two match points but I was pretty pleased when he netted the forehand.”
Evans was quicker, cleverer and more consistent than Cilic, who was outthought and outfought over a pulsating two hours and 58 minutes.
His victory means Evans has now reached three consecutive grand slam third rounds and continues a remarkable rise that has seen him surge from 319th in the world this time two years ago, to inside the top 50.
He might fancy his chances against Tomic too, having beaten the world No 27 at the 2013 US Open, before losing a Davis Cup tie in four close sets in 2015.
“It’s a completely different match to the US Open,” Evans said. “The Davis Cup match, we played not long ago. I think it’s just sort of fresh when we play each other. I’d say it’s a 50-50 match.”
Evans admitted he drew extra motivation for his win in New York after Tomic’s father told him he was not good enough to practise with his son.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray remains optimistic about the ankle injury that threatens to derail his bid to win the Australian Open.
Murray rolled over on his right foot during his 6-3 6-0 6-2 second round thrashing of Russian teenager Andrey Rublev, losing balance as he reached for a forehand and tumbling to the floor.
“I don’t know how bad it is,” Murray said, around 90 minutes after the match had finished.
“It’s a little bit stiff just now. It’s OK. I don’t think I’ve done too much damage.
“There’s not a whole lot you can do apart from icing just now. Hopefully it will be all right.”