Daniel Evans backed up his win over World No. 1 Novak Djokovic with a hard-fought victory over David Goffin on Friday for a place in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters semi-finals.
The World No. 33, who had come into the Monte-Carlo tournament on a 10-match losing streak on clay courts, overcame Monaco resident and No. 11 seed Goffin 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 42 minutes.
Evans saved four break points in an eight-minute hold at 4-4 in the deciding set and will now hope to improve upon an 0-2 record against Stefanos Tsitsipas in their ATP Head2Head series in his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final. Fourth seed Tsitsipas, who beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarter-finals earlier on Friday, beat Evans at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and the Hamburg European Open last year.
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Evans got off to the best possible start by breaking Goffin’s serve in the first game. The Briton then save three break points for a 2-0 advantage and his shot variation continued to frustrate Goffin, who reached the 2017 Monte-Carlo semi-finals. When Evans served for the set at 5-4, Goffin adjusted his tactics striking regularly to his opponent’s forehand, broke back and assumed control of their second meeting (also 2020 ATP Cup). The 61-minute opener ended with Evans striking a forehand wide.
Goffin held serve to claim his fifth consecutive game of the match, before Evans responded with a run of his own. The Brit rushed the net to take advantage of errors to establish a 3-1 lead and Evans turned the screw at 5-3, when Goffin hit a double fault at 15/40. It ensured a tense decider.
Evans, who had saved three break points from 0/40 at 1-1 in the third set, claimed a crucial hold at 4-4, coming through an eight-minute game having saved a further four break points. The 30-year-old varied his pace to keep Goffin under pressure in the closing stages and the match ended when the Belgian hit a forehand wide. Goffin will be left to rue converting just two of his 17 break point opportunities.
Evans entered the tournament seeking his first tour-level win on clay since the 2017 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. Prior to his straight-sets win against Djokovic, the British No. 1 also defeated 2019 runner-up Dusan Lajovic and Miami champion Hubert Hurkacz.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3e8iQRB
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