Dan hits highest ranking

DAN Evans has cracked the top 30 in the world for the first time by reaching the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

The British No1 needed three match points in the tiebreak before seeing off No6 seedAndrey Rublev 6-2, 7-6.

He will now face Greek No 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas today in his first ATP 500-level semi-final.

“Semi-finals in any tournament on the ATP Tour is great,” said Evans, 29. “It doesn’t matter who it’s against. Everyone is so good here.”

Evans reached world No 31 in 2017 just before testing postive for cocaine and then serving a one-year ban. He returned without a ranking but has rebuilt his career.

SMASH HIT: Dan Evans savours win

RORY BURNS insists he will not be seen kicking a football again until his cricket career is over – after learning the hard way.

The opening batsman picked up a serious ankle injury playing football ahead of the second Test in South Africa.

It ruled the 29-year-old out of the rest of the series and he is also sidelined for the tour of Sri Lanka, which starts next month.

And Burns believes his misfortune is the price he has had to pay for cricket to wake up to the perils of pre-match kickabouts.

The players love it, and are sorry to see it go because it gets the heart pumping, the competitive juices flowing and it livens up the squad before training.

But after Burns was left requiring surgery on ligament damage, it became clear the cons clearly outweigh the pros when it comes to football.

“It’s taken something like this to re-evaluate it,” said Burns, who had waited until he was 28 for a debut but now has two tons in 15 Tests.

“You re-evaluate whether you want to waste your time doing four months in a gym doing rehab or being on a plane to Sri Lanka.

“It’s taken four months out of my career at the stage I had got myself to, where I was playing quite nicely, so while I am still a professional cricketer I probably won’t play football again.”

Burns was an ideal man to bring a bit of perspective to the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s 10th ‘rookie camp’ this week, where he addressed the latest set of young players entering the game. Having waited for his chance

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