British battler Evans downs local Tomic to reach last 16

[January 20, 2017]    MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Dan Evans continued his fairytale run at Melbourne Park by downing local world number 27 Bernard Tomic 7-5 7-6(2) 7-6(3) on Friday to give Britain two men in the last 16 of the Australian Open for the first time in 16 years.

Britain's Daniel Evans hits a shot during his Men's singles third round match against Australia's Bernard Tomic. REUTERS/Edgar Su

The 26-year-old, who upset seventh seed Marin Cilic in the second round, prevailed at the end of a thrilling two-hour 48-minute battle in a highly-charged atmosphere on Hisense Arena to end Australia's interest in the men's singles draw.

Evans refused to play on and insisted the stadium roof be closed when rain started falling on the court late in the third set but recovered his composure to win the tiebreak and set up a meeting with France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

World number one Andy Murray's 6-4 6-2 6-4 win over Sam Querrey preceded Evans's match on the same court, ensuring a double British presence in the fourth round for the first time since Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski in 2001.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

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