Evans continues winning ways to close in on Wimbledon spot

Dan Evans kept his Wimbledon dream alive with a win in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying.

Evans beat Belarussian Ilya Ivashka 6-4 6-4 in sweltering conditions at Roehampton, putting him two victories away from the main draw at SW19.

The former British No 2, who has been ranked inside the top 50, was not given a wild card by the All England Club as a matter of “principle” following his 12-month drugs ban.

He returned to the game more than two months ago and has been the best performing British player since, but has still been overlooked.

That meant the 28-year-old had to come through pre-qualifying at the end of the last week, which involved winning three games in 28 hours.

He had to play twice on Friday in farcical conditions that saw players run out of water and have no towels.

It was a tough assignment for Evans against 127-ranked Ivashka, third seed in qualifying, who has a big serve and powerful forehand. But Evans was able to negate that with an effective use of his backhand slice and was able to win thanks to a break in each set.

He meets Australian Marc Polmans in the next round.

Alexander Ward is the only other

British winner so far.

Ward, the country’s sixth best player, came from a set down to beat Darian King 4-6 7-5 6-0 and harbours hopes of a second successive run to the main draw.

Dan Evans.