Dan Evans shocks Mischa Zverev on his least favourite surface to reach the last-16 stage at the Barcelona Open

For years Evans studiously avoided playing on the red stuff, but after waiting years for an ATP Tour win on clay, he has two in as many days at the Barcelona Open

Few expected Evans to progress past the opening round (Getty )

Dan Evans had waited for years for his maiden ATP Tour win on clay. Now, on the red stuff at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, he has managed two victories in two days.

Less than 24 hours after Evans had fought back from a set down to beat Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro, he won again, defeating Mischa Zverev 6-4, 6-4 to move into the last-16 at the Barcelona Open.

Zverev – who unexpectedly dumped Andy Murray out in the opening round at the Australian Open and who was seeded 14^th for this tournament – was widely expected to beat Evans, but wound up losing in straight sets to the World No 43.

In January Zverev stunned Murray at the Australian Open (Getty)

Both men made a solid start to the match and served out their service games in the first set, until Evans broke in the tenth to take the set 6-4.

Zverev made a brighter start to the second set and broke early, but Evans rallied, quickly breaking back to level the set at 3-3.

He then broke Zverev to love at 5-4 to take the set and win the match in just under an hour and a half on Court No 2.

Edmund was well beaten in Barcelona (Getty)

The British number three will play Austria’s Dominic Thiem in the Round of 16, who earlier beat another British hopeful, Kyle Edmund.

Edmund, who sits a solitary place above Evans in the ATP rankings, had confidently dispatched Jeremy Chardy in the opening round on Monday but was brushed aside by Thiem, seeded fourth in Barcelona and ranked ninth in the world.

The 23-year-old broke Edmund twice early on, taking the first set 6-1.

He broke again to take a 3-2 lead in the second, with Edmund twice spurning break points of his own. Thiem went on to seal a routine 6-1, 6-4 victory in little over an hour and 20 minutes.

Murray will be hoping to atone for his poor display in Monte Carlo (Getty)

World No 1 Murray will play his first match at this year’s tournament today when he takes on Australia’s Bernard Tomic, who beat the enigmatic Dustin Brown 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 to book his place in the next round.

Murray has played the young Australian four times before without even dropping a set, and will hope to recover from his surprising loss to Albert Ramos Viñolas at the Monte Carlo Masters.

At the Hungarian Open in Budapest, British number four Aljaz Bedene beat lucky loser Marius Copil 7-5, 6-2 to progress into the second round.

He will now play Dutchman Robin Haase, ranked 46^th in the world.