Evans’ rehabilitation continues as he is finally rewarded with a wild card
Cocaine-ban player to join Queen’s contenders Konta powers through to semi-final at Nottingham
After another fine win in Nottingham yesterday, Dan Evans has earned a significant gesture of support from the Lawn Tennis Association, who have granted him a wild card into the Fever-tree Championships at Queen’s.
Evans’ return from a cocaine ban placed the LTA in an awkward position, but his performances on the court over the past month have underlined his qualities as a player and his value to British tennis.
Since making his comeback in Glasgow just under seven weeks ago, Evans has won 15 matches – including yesterday’s 7-6, 6-3 elimination of world No 239 Brayden Schnur in the Nottingham quarterfinals – while suffering only three losses.
Evans has already climbed from the bottom of the rankings pile, which extends to almost 2,000 players, to somewhere around No380 in the world after less than four completed events.
It is already a remarkable effort, and Marcel Granollers – today’s opponent in Nottingham – is a Spanish clay-court expert who will not relish Evans’s slice-heavy game.
“Dan has been highly committed and focused since his return,” said Leon Smith, the British Davis Cup captain, yesterday in a statement. “We gave him a qualifying wild card in Glasgow to help him at the start of his comeback and he took full advantage with some excellent wins. After more good results, a main draw wild card is now the next step for him as he tries to rebuild his career.”
In the other half of Nottingham’s Nature Valley Open, Johanna Konta overturned an early deficit against Slovenia’s Dalila Jakupovic to hand out a comprehensive 6-4, 6-2 beating. Her three wins to date have earned her a first semi-final appearance since last year’s Wimbledon.
Today’s match between Konta and Croatia’s Donna Vekic should make a decent spectacle. These two players met twice on the grass last season: first in the Nottingham final, then in the second round of Wimbledon, and they produced a three-set cliffhanger each time.
Two other Britons fell yesterday in Nottingham, though, as James Ward went out to fourth seed Ilya Ivashka, while Katie Boulter’s career-best run came to an end against top seed Ashleigh Barty.
And so to Stuttgart, where Roger Federer earned a tasty semi-final by eliminating Argentina’s Guido Pella in a comfortable 6-4, 6-4 win that saw him drop only 12 points on his own serve. If Federer beats Nick Kyrgios today he will return to the top of the rankings for the sixth time in his glorious career.