Dan Evans’ US Open adventure is over when an injury ruined what was shaping up to be a classic third round against Australian Alex de Minaur.
Early in the third set, with the score tied, Evans began to feel some discomfort and at 3-0 down he received medical attention to his right hip. The 34-year-old was seen taking a pill before the match, so it may have been a pre-existing problem that was aggravated.
When Evans came back from 4-0 and 40-15 down in the fifth set to beat Karen Khachanov in his first-round match, it always looked like the five-hour, 35-minute match – the longest in US Open history – would be a Pyrrhic victory. Presumably those Herculean efforts had something to do with this injury. Evans has no shred of will to give up and refused to retire hurt, instead cringing and limping through the final two sets to lose 6-4, 6-7, 6-0, 6-0. Evans won just three points in the final set.
What a shame that this exciting run ended like this, and what a shame for the evening crowd at Louis Armstrong, because the first two sets of this match were fantastic.
It may have been an Ashes match, but this wasn’t a combination of body and a big-hitting Bazball. Instead, these two had the bowlers on fire and skilfully picked out gaps in the field.
Great Britain’s Daniel Evans reacts after losing to Australia’s Alex de Minaur
Alex de Minaur will face fellow Australian Jordan Thompson on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.
Neither player has the power to hit the other, so they must rely on more subtle skills to get the job done.
This was a throwback to the days when this event was played on grass with wooden rackets and points were played with
De Minaur said before this match that she was still only 80-85 percent fit after a hip injury suffered at Wimbledon, and was in the awkward position of having to choose which balls to try to reach in order to protect her body.
There was little sign of that hesitation against Evans, as De Minaur flew all over the court. In the first set, he returned a forehand volley with full force, turned 180 degrees and raced into the backhand corner to hit a winner. That helped set up a break point, and Evans sent what was, for him, a regulation backhand volley into the net. When there’s someone with De Minaur’s quickness on the other side of the net, those volleys become a little more difficult.
Watching the first set, it was hard to gauge Evans’ 3-0 lead in the match. De Minaur never let Evans get used to her rhythm of backhand slices, and she shook things up by coming to the net and hitting some superb volleys.
Daniel Evans is treated by Medical Services Director Alejandro Resnicoff between games
And when Evans lunged towards the net, De Minaur followed the entire path and delivered with total precision.
Evans, a shrewd veteran tennis player, made appropriate adjustments by using his topspin backhand more often, rather than the slice, and being more selective in approaching the net.
In the second set, when the score was 4-4, De Minaur played a terrible service game and lost serve. Evans was unable to serve strongly as De Minaur got serve back with the last of a series of magnificent lobs and we were in a tiebreak.
Back to the head-to-head, Evans may have the edge in the matchup because he forces De Minaur, a natural counter-puncher, to generate his own rhythm. The Australian hit a couple of balls too many in the tiebreak and Evans leveled the score.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur waves to the crowd after his win over Daniel Evans
Her momentum was broken after she dragged a regulation shot into the net on her way to losing her serve in the first game of the third set.
Then the signs of pain began to be written on each of his grimaces and gestures, and the match as a competition ended.
Despite a horrific finish, this has been a big week for Evans. He had not won on Tour since March and his decision to play the Olympics with Andy Murray meant he did not get the chance to defend the points he earned by winning the title in Washington last year.
That meant he dropped out of the world’s top 150 and, had he lost that heart-stopping match against Khachanov, he would have fallen to 225th. His two wins here should give him a foothold from which to try to return to the world’s top 100 before the end of the year. The question after tonight is whether his body will allow him to do so.
