Dan Evans overpowered by Andrey Rublev who soars into fourth round of the Australian Open

Dan Evans shared his box on court with world number six Andrey Rublev, who by way of thanks promptly knocked him out of the Australian Open in straight sets.

In the first set of a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 loss, Evans tossed the Russian one of his bananas during the switch after Rublev found himself without his preferred energy food.

The act of generosity came after the favorite had held on a break point. From there, he pummeled the British number two.

Andrey Rublev moved into the fourth round of the US Open with a straight-set victory

‘He helped me with some energy for sure. I won two more games because I ate a banana,” a smiling Rublev said later, having won a fourth round against Danish teenager standout Holger Rune.

I quite like him, so I shared with him. They only drew two, so I donated one,” said Evans, whose manual skills ultimately weren’t enough to defuse his opponent’s explosive power.

It had started brightly, but Rublev would have had to break out in the face of his delicate cuts for it to be a close contest.

The British number 2 struggled to keep up with his opponent, who put in a very impressive performance.

Midlander, 32, was left contemplating how to tackle the nightmarish journey to the contrasting locale of Bogota in Colombia, where Great Britain will play their Davis Cup qualifying round next week.

Evans is likely to make the roughly 30-hour journey directly from Australia to one of the highest places where professional tennis is played, at the lofty 2,500m ski resort. The surface will be clay and the balls without pressure.

“I’m horrible at Skyscanner, but I looked back a while back when I was making decisions,” Evans said. I will not go home. It’s too much.

Rublev celebrates reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park

Rublev and Evans shake hands in the net after the contest that the Russian won comfortably in the end

“I have played at altitude in Guadalajara (Mexico) and it was rubbish. So I asked someone: “Is this similar? And they said, ‘No, that’s nothing compared to there (Bogotá).” So, I mean, God knows. It’s an experience, I guess.

“I think it’s important that the best players can go out there and represent your country, but it’s the worst draw possible. He’s miles away and all his equipment is pretty good in those conditions.’