Dan Evans’ US Open adventure is over as injury ended what would have been a classic third round clash against Australian Alex de Minaur.
Early in the third set, with the scores level, Evans began to show some discomfort and, trailing 3-0, received medical attention in the area of 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 he was aggravating.
When Evans came back from 4-0, 40-15 down in the fifth set to defeat Karen Khachanov in his first-round match, it always felt like the five-hour, 35-minute match – the longest in US Open history – would be a Pyrrhic victory. Those Herculean feats likely played a role in the injury. Evans has no give-up streak in him and refused to give up with injury, instead cowering 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 series ended like this, and what a shame for the crowd at the evening session on Louis Armstrong, because the first two sets of this match were fantastic.
It may have been an Ashes matchup, but it wasn’t a bodyline and it wasn’t a hard-hitting Bazball. Instead, these two had the spinners on under the lights and were deftly finding gaps in the pitch.
Great Britain’s Daniel Evans reacts after loss to Australia’s Alex de Minaur
Alex de Minaur will face his compatriot Jordan Thompson on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals
Neither player has the strength to punch through the other, so they must rely on more subtle techniques to get the job done.
This was a throwback to the days when this event was played on grass with wooden rackets, with points played with
De Minaur had said before this match that he was only ’80-85 percent’ fit after suffering a hip injury at Wimbledon, leaving him in the difficult position of having to choose which balls to knock down to protect his body.
There was little evidence of that hesitation from Evans as De Minaur flew across the court. In the first set, he returned a forehand volley with full extension, turned 180 degrees and sprinted deep into the backhand corner to flick a winning passing shot. It helped set up a break point, and Evans netted what was for him a legal backhand volley. When someone with De Minaur’s speed is on the other side of the net, those volleys become a lot harder.
When I watched the first set, it was hard to calculate the 3-0 head to head lead Evans had in this match. De Minaur never let Evans get into his rhythm of slicing backhands, mixing it up by crawling to the net and hitting some beautiful drop volleys.
Daniel Evans is treated between matches by director of medical services Alejandro Resnicoff
And when Evans himself went for the net, De Minaur tracked everything down and lobbed the ball with utmost precision.
Evans, being the wily old fighter that he is, made the right adjustments by using his topspin drive backhand more often instead of the slice, and by being more selective in his approach to the net.
At 4-4 in the second set, De Minaur played a terrible service game and was broken to love. Evans was unable to serve properly as De Minaur broke back with the last of a series of great lobs and we went into a tiebreak.
Back to that head-to-head, perhaps Evans has the upper hand in the matchup because he forces De Minaur, a natural counter-puncher, to generate his own pace. The Aussie hit a few too many balls in the tiebreak and Evans evened the score.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur thanks the crowd after his victory over Daniel Evans
His momentum was disrupted when he fired a ball into the net at normal speed, breaking him in the first game of the third set.
Then the signs of pain became visible in every grimace and wince he pulled, and the match as a match was over.
Despite a terrible ending, this was a big week for Evans. He came in without a tour win since March and his decision to play the Olympics with Andy Murray meant he had no chance to defend the points he earned last year by winning the Washington title.
That meant he was dumped out of the world’s top 150 and if he had lost that nail-biter against Khachanov he would have dropped to around 225. His two wins here should give him a foothold to try and get back into the world’s top 100 before the end of the year. The question after tonight is whether his body will allow him to do that.