Dan Evans defeats Thiago Monteiro at the Barcelona Open for first ever ATP Tour match win on clay

Evans has traditionally struggled on clay and had never before won an ATP Tour match on the surface, but beat Monteiro 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (2) to move into the second round in Barcelona

Luke Brown
Monday 24 April 2017 16:30 BST
Comments
Evans held his nerve to move into the second round of the Barcelona Open
Evans held his nerve to move into the second round of the Barcelona Open

Dan Evans won his first ever ATP Tour match on clay on Monday, as he defeated Thiago Monteiro in a final set tie-break to progress to the second round of the Barcelona Open.

Evans has long had an aversion to playing on clay and has previously made a habit of avoiding playing on the surface. He has only ever entered the French Open once – losing to Gastão Elias in the first round of qualifying in 2014 – and had never previously entered the Monte Carlo Masters or the Barcelona Open.

The Brit’s elegant single-handed backhand and his tendency to slice means that his game is not ideally suited to heavy clay courts, but following his rapid surge up the ATP Tour rankings he has embarked upon his first full clay-court season, ahead of a second crack at the French Open.

Evans has traditionally struggled on clay

And so his 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory over Monteiro was something of a milestone moment in his career, especially considering he dropped the first set against the World No 80.

But after losing a nervy first-set tiebreak Evans rallied to break the Brazilian three times in the second set. He then won the first five points of the third-set tie-break to set up a second-round clash against Mischa Zverev, who defeated Andy Murray in the first round of this year’s Australian Open.

Meanwhile, fellow Briton Kyle Edmund continued his good form on the surface with a confident 6-3, 6-4 win over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

Edmund seized his solitary break point opportunity in the first set to nudge into the lead and one further break in the second was enough to complete victory.

The British number two will now play Dominic Thiem in the second round, a week after taking Rafael Nadal to three sets at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in