After what has been a challenging past couple of months Dan Evans has won his first ATP 500 title at the Washington Open.
The 33-year-old defeated Tallon Griekspoor 7-5, 6-3, in a rain-interrupted final to capture the biggest trophy of his career so far. Evans hit a total of 29 winners against just three unforced errors and didn’t drop serve throughout the match. He has become the first British man to win the tournament since Tim Henman back in 2003.
Evans only dropped one set en route to the title which was in the first round against Gregoire Barrere. He also scored wins over second seed Frances Tiafoe and fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov.
“The first round was a little scrappy, but I played very good tennis from then on in,” he said during his press conference.
“It’s nice to win any tournament, but especially here (in Washinton). I have come here a lot of times, and it’s been an amazing week. I’m delighted.”
Before playing in America, Evans was on a six-match losing streak and hadn’t won back-to-back matches since reaching the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open in April. During the grass swing he only won one match which was at a Challenger tournament in Surbiton. Washington is only the fourth tournament this year that he has managed to win consecutive matches.
“I played well in Barcelona on the clay and then I had some rough matches which I didn’t get the best out of. I lost in three a few times or tight matches.” Evans reflected.
“I was playing well and I just couldn’t get over the line. That’s where you sort of lean on your team to keep you working hard and training and practicing hard.”
“It’s especially good to get the outcome I got this week but I said to myself once I got into the semis that that was a good effort. Then I sort of reset and wanted to then win the tournament.”
The Brit will be hoping to continue his form into this week’s Canadian Masters where he has a series of ranking points to defend after reaching the semi-finals of the tournament last year. He will play wild card Gabriel Diallo in his opening match. If he wins, he then faces a tough encounter against either compatriot Cameron Norrie or Alex de Minaur.
Evans is now on the verge of cracking the top 20 for the first time in his career. On Monday he has risen to a ranking high of No.21.
