Dan Evans in a man on the up, and despite defeat to Alexander Zverev last night, the Cheltenham-based professional is enjoying his best season so far.
Despite defeat in the first round of the Australian Open to fellow Brit Cam Norrie, Evans lifted his first professional title the previous week in Melbourne.
He also famously knocked two-time champion Novak Djokovic of the Monte Carlo Open on his way to the semi-finals in the principality.
Another big event on clay took place this week in Madrid, where Evans beat Jérémy Chardy and John Millman before defeat to Zverev.
All that has Evans up to 26th in the ATP rankings and tied 17th for the seasonal race, so he’s well-placed to improve upon a career-high ranking.
That run in the Murray River Open was perhaps the best week of Evans’ career so far. He beat former world number 12 Borna Ćorić in the last eight before seeing off Chardy in the semi-finals without dropping a set.
That made it eight sets without reply in Australia, and the run continued in the final as Evans beat promising Canadian youngster Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-3.
Maybe his first career title took it out of Evans physically as he suffered a disappointing defeat in the year’s opening Grand Slam to Norrie in four sets.
He was also beaten early in Dubai, Miami and Cagliari, but the start of the clay court season clearly re-energised Evans.
The sensational win over Djokovic was followed by a battling defeat of David Goffin in a final-set decider.
Although he lost to eventual champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last four, that run added to the title in Melbourne was more than many could’ve predicted for Dan Evans’ 2021 season, and with three Grand Slams still to play, there could be plenty more achievements still to be had.
