BAD BOY EVANS IS ON THE RISE AGAIN
the comeback of Dan evans to top-level tennis was always likely to be an eventful affair, and so it has proved. the latest instalment saw him come all the way through qualifying to make last night’s final of the Delray Beach open. en route he defeated the top American contenders Frances tiafoe and John isner, one of them the defending champion and the other the world no 9. evans was due to face Moldovan Radu Albot last night in the championship match, offering him the chance of a first title on the main ATP tour relatively late in a sometimes turbulent career. Regardless of the result it has been an excellent start to the season for the 28-year-old Midlander. ‘Weeks like this are a reward for the consistent hard work Dan has been putting in over a sustained period and it bodes well for the future, but we both know that there is plenty more to do,’ said his coach David Felgate. evans went on court knowing that months of graft have already brought the reward of automatic entry into the French open and Wimbledon. he was guaranteed a minimum ranking of 105 from a starting position of 148 a week ago, and with no points coming off until May the only way is up. there will certainly be no repeat of last summer, when he became the subject of heated debates over wildcards. Wimbledon and the LTA were anxious not to be seen to be too generous to someone who had served a year’s ban after testing positive for his social use of cocaine. evans has subsequently been turning around his reputation as the bad boy of British tennis, although he remains someone unafraid to speak his mind. his progress is ahead of schedule. A mark of his talent is that when he beat isner on saturday night the giant American, a foot taller, had not had his serve broken for 77 games — the British player managed it three times. evans is now due to play in the indian Wells Challenger next week, where British no 1 Kyle edmund is top seed in his first event since losing in the Australian open first round.