Foul-mouthed Evans gets lucky loser spot

A TIRING if productive fiveweek trip around America culminated in a near meltdown for Dan Evans last night when he came close to being defaulted at the Miami Open. The British No 3 launched several tirades against Brazilian umpire Rafael Maia after a string of bad line calls went against him in the final qualifying round against Kazakh Alexander Bublik. Evans went down 6-4, 6-4 and before leaving the court told Maia it was ‘the worst performance I have ever seen’ from someone in the chair before branding the officiating ‘a complete s***show’. ‘Tell them to get ready for me in the office,’ he added, knowing that he will likely face a four-figure fine for an earlier audible obscenity and a later point penalty when he smashed his racket into his water bottle at the changeover. The 28-yearold looked weary after what was his 31st singles match this season, but his recently elevated ranking to 97 meant that he got into the draw last night as a ‘lucky loser’, and will today face Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri. Evans (below) later branded the umpire ‘arrogant’ for refusing to admit that mistakes had been made. ‘It was a poor match for officiating,’ said Evans. ‘I’ve said a few things but it’s not the reason I lost. They missed calls all the time and he never thought it was wrong. I said an f-bomb and hit some water bottles over. It’s not a massive deal.’ Fellow Briton Jay Clarke missed out, losing 6-4, 6-4 to India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran. Meanwhile, Johanna Konta will take on American Jessica Pegula in her first-round match.