British double in Melbourne as Dan Evans and Andy Murray advance to fourth round
by Paavan Mohindru
Britain have two men in the fourth round of the Australian Open after Dan Evans followed up Sir Andy Murray’s comfortable victory over Sam Querrey with a straight sets shock of Bernard Tomic.
The number 51 seed overcame Australian and 27th seed Tomic with a gutsy 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-3) victory.
Evans will now face 12th seed Frenchman Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, who beat American Jack Sock in four sets, while Murray will come up against world number 50 Mischa Zverev after his 6-4 6-2 6-4 win in just under two hours.
It was a day of landmarks for British tennis at Melbourne Park, as more than one player made it to the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time since 2002, when Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski achieved the feat at Wimbledon.
It was also the furthest Evans has reached at a Grand Slam in his career.
The 26-year-old said before the win over the Australian that he hoped the ‘dark times’ in his career had disappeared after a devastating defeat to Stan Wawrinka at the US Open in September.
The loss to the Swiss was followed by three defeats in four matches towards the end of 2016, all to lower-level opposition, but he has bounced back in style.
The British number three recovered from a set down to beat Marin Cilic in the third round on Wednesday, before his brilliant defeat of Tomic in the early hours of Friday morning.
Evans is now set to move into the world top 50 after being ranked 271st in 2015.
World number one Murray, 29, is now the clear favourite for the only Grand Slam which has eluded him in his illustrious career so far, after number 2 seed Novak Djokovic was humbled by Uzbek minnow Denis Istomin yesterday.
Six-time champion Djokovic has beaten Murray four times in the final in Melbourne, and the Glaswegian will surely have met his elimination with encouragement.
He earned his seventh win in eight matches against big American Sam Querrey, who beat Djokovic at Wimbledon last year, to cement his place in the fourth round after breaking five times.
Elsewhere, Roger Federer advanced to the fourth round after a straight sets win over Tomas Berdych.
Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori are also through to the fourth round after wins over Victor Troicki and Lukas Lacko respectively.
In the female singles, Johanna Konta is the only British representation in the fourth round after beating Naomi Osaka on Wednesday.
Heather Watson was eliminated on the same day after a tie-break loss to American Jennifer Watson.
Konta will face Dane Caroline Wozniacki tomorrow after she beat Croat Donna Vekic.
