DAN’S GREAT ESCAPE
Evans makes amends to keep GB on course for last eight
DAN EVANS produced his biggest win since Wimbledon yesterday with a straight-sets triumph over David Goffin to keep Britain in the ATP Cup.
Needing to defeat Belgium to stay in contention in Sydney, Britain made the worst possible start when Cameron Norrie lost in straight sets to veteran Steve Darcis.
But Evans triumphed 6-4, 6-4 against world No11 Goffin to send the tie into a deciding rubber, and doubles pair Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury beat Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 7-6.
Britain lost their opening match of the inaugural ATP Cup against Bulgaria on Friday, with Evans letting slip a one-set lead against world No20 Grigor Dimitrov.
But yesterday he held the upper hand throughout most of his first meeting with Goffin, despite winning only 57 per cent of his service points.
The British No1 said: “It was real tough out there.We said he would come at me when it was tight – he’s a worldclass player. His quality started to show near the end.”
Evans squandered four match points and was forced to save a break point before eventually prevailing after one hour and 48 minutes to secure a first win over a top-20 player since eliminating Nikoloz Basilashvili at Wimbledon last year. He secured all three of his break points in the first set but was broken twice himself as both men struggled to hold serve.
The 29-year-old Briton eventually served out the first set and broke his opponent twice early in the second to race into a 4-0 lead. But Goffin then reeled off three games in a row to stop the rot and set up a nerve-jangling finish.
Murray said: “Evo played an amazing match. I don’t know how Joe felt, but I was like, ‘I cannot let that slide’.
“We’ve got to win that match and make his performance count for something.”
Murray and Salisbury lost their deciding match against Dimitrov and Alexandar Lazarov on Friday but made amends at Ken Rosewall
Arena with a battling victory in which their opponents were denied a single break point.
The Britons broke in the fourth game and served out the first set 6-3 but there was little to choose between them in the second set. Gille and Vliegen led 3-0 and 5-3 in the tiebreak before Murray and Salisbury twice levelled and the Britons squandered two match points before finally winning 9-7.
Tim Henman’s team now need to beat Moldova in their final roundrobin match tomorrow to reach the quarter-finals.