Evans fails to join fellow Briton Edmund and Djokovic in next round
Dan Evans’ run at the Miami Open ended yesterday in a second-round defeat by Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov.
Evans (inset) dropped just two games in a first-round win over Malek Jaziri having earned a place in a draw as a lucky loser and led 20th seed Shapovalov by a set before going down 4-6 6-1 6-3.
Shapovalov helped Evans in the opening set with a number of errors but improved thereafter and the British No. 3 needed treatment in the second set for a jarred ankle.
It has been a busy and successful start to the season for Evans, who is back in the top 100 less than a year after returning from his oneyear ban, and he has looked a little jaded this tournament.
He battled well in the third set, but was unable to prevent Shapovalov breaking serve in the third game and missed two chances to get back on level terms before ending the match in unfortunate fashion with a third double fault.
There was better news for fellow-Brit Kyle Edmund, seeded 19th, meanwhile, as he was given few problems in a 6-3 6-2 victory over Belarusian Ilya Ivashka to book his place in the third round.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic kicked off his campaign for a record seventh Miami Open title with a second-round win over Bernard Tomic.
The world No. 1, who dropped out of BNP Paribas Open last week in a third-round loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber, returned to form and broke his Australian opponent three times on the way to a 7-6 (2) 6-2 victory.
The pair traded breaks in the first set before Djokovic took the advantage, winning all points on his serve in the tiebreak, and glided through a clinical second set.
The Serbian hit 11 aces over the course of the 76-minute match and goes on to face Argentine Federico Delbonis, who defeated John Millman, the 32nd seed, 7-5 3-6 7-6 (2).
In the doubles, Jamie Murray and partner Bruno Soares battled their way into the second round.
Following first-round defeats in Acapulco and Indian Wells, Murray and Soares bounced back to win last week in Phoenix.
The No. 2 seeds secured a 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) victory over American wild cards Mackenzie McDonald and Reilly Opelka. They face Wesley Koolhof (Holland) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) in the last 16.
Meanwhile, Simona Halep moved into the third round after a comfortable victory over American qualifier Taylor Townsend. The second seed needed just over an hour to bypass her 22-year-old opponent 6-1 6-3.
Halep, the world No. 3, lost only four games en route to victory and broke Townsend five times across the course of the match.
Townsend fell 4-0 behind in the first set and struggled on serve, double-faulting five times and winning just 48% of her first serve points.
China’s Wang Qiang, who saw off Britain’s Jo Konta, will next face Serena Williams, an eighttime champion at this competition, after the American battled past Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson in three sets.
Williams hit nine aces and survived a second-set wobble to advance 6-3 1-6 6-1 in one hour and 37 minutes.