Brimingham's giant-killer Evans defeats Tomic in straight-sets
Friday 20 January 2017 13:45, UK
Britain's Dan Evans continued his remarkable run of form at the Australian Open by upsetting home favourite Bernard Tomic to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.
Evans, who claimed the highest-ranked scalp of his career when he stunned former US Open champion Marin Cilic in the previous round, followed up that up with another seismic scalp in the shape of Tomic.
The 26-year-old from Solihull sealed a handsome 7-5 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-3) win on a packed-out Hisense Arena.
The Briton reached his first ATP Tour final at the Sydney International before the start of the first Grand Slam of the year and his red-hot form has stretched heading to Melbourne this week where he has been playing the best tennis of his career.
Evans has surge from 319th in the world this time two years ago, and is now set to break into the top 50 for the first time after the tournament.
He will now meet 2008 Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the quarter-finals.
It is Evans's best Grand Slam result, having reached the third round of both the 2013 and 2016 US Opens and last year's Wimbledon.
"It was just tough. Bernie is difficult, he is unorthodox when he plays, he plays aggressive," he said. "I found it hard at the start but happy to have come through.
"I was just focusing on the end goal the whole time."
Evans has had to buy his own clothes, including $13 white t-shirts, for the first major tournament of the year after losing a kit deal with Nike in December.
"I'm happy with these shirts at the minute," he said. "One shrunk in the wash a bit so I had to change it, but I think they look alright."
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