Briton’s silver lining
Dan Evans loses his first ATP final – but charges up rankings
Britain’s Dan Evans lost in his first ATP Tour final at the Sydney International yesterday as an emotional Gilles Müller beat him 7-6, 6-2 to take his first title in his 17th year as a professional.
Left-hander Müller, 33, from Luxembourg, had lost all five of his previous Tour finals, and he broke down in tears as he prevailed at the sixth attempt in the Australian Open warm-up event at the Olympic Tennis Centre.
Evans, 26, who had led 4-2 in the first set, has the consolation of a new careerhigh ranking just outside the top 50.
Fellow Briton Jamie Murray and his partner Bruno Soares were beaten in the doubles, losing 6-3, 7-5 to Dutch duo Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop.
World No 34 Müller, the highestranked player on the Tour to have never won a singles title, finally ended his 16-year wait after converting his third championship point off his second serve to conclude the final in a shade under an hour and a half in Ken Rosewall Arena.
“Wow, what a night, I’ve waited a long time for this,” he said after receiving the trophy from Australian tennis great Rod Laver. “I wasn’t expecting that. It was a great honour. Just unbelievable. Everything that happened tonight was like in a movie. Rod Laver there, standing on centre court with the trophy, my kids in the stands, I can’t ask for more.
“I’m sorry,” he added, fighting in vain to hold back the tears. “It just means so much to me to win the first time on the ATP in front of my boys and my wife.”
Evans, ranked in the high 700s in the world only a couple of years ago, was also seeking a first Tour title but failed to come to terms with the variety of Müller’s serve.
The 26-year-old held his own in a tight first set without putting enough pressure on his opponent to conjure up a single break point.
Müller always looked like having the edge with his serve-volley game and made it count with a forehand smash at the net to seal the first-set tie-break.
The second set was a more one-sided affair and Evans sank to his haunches and banged his racket on the court in frustration after being broken for the second time.
Müller raced to 40-0 while serving for the match but the nerves caught up with him and he double-faulted on his first championship point and went long on his second.
Again on the third, his first serve let him down as he looked for a 13th ace to seal the victory but his angled second effort had enough on it to force the error out of Evans – and the title was his.
“Well done to Gilles, I was hoping it was going to be six losses in finals but it wasn’t to be,” Evans said with a grin.
Müller faces the American Taylor Fritz in the first round of the Australian Open next week, while Evans takes on Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis.