SURBITON, June 4, 2018 (Press Release)
Dan Evans, Ed Corrie and Brydan Klein won their matches at the Fuzion 100 Surbiton Trophy on Sunday to fly the British flag into Monday’s final round of qualifying.
Evans saw off a spirited challenge from countryman Neil Pauffley to prevail 6-3, 7-6(5) in one hour 22 minutes in front of a packed crowd on Court 3 and will now face Ed Corrie for a place in the main draw.
“I’ve known Neil a long time so it can be difficult, he made a lot of balls in there so I was glad to get the win,” said Evans. “I played well here last year and really enjoy it on the grass so I hope I can win some more matches this week.”
World No. 445 Corrie dropped the first set 6-3 to British wild card Jack Molloy but then won 12 of the next 14 games to advance to the final round of qualifying in 93 minutes.
Brydan Klein was the only other Brit to experience success on day two at the Surbiton Racket and Fitness Club. The 28-year-old, who was born in Australia, knocked out No. 5 seeded US-American Evan King 6-4, 6-3 to set up a final qualifying round clash against top seed Taylor Fritz, who dropped just five games on his way to victory over Devon’s Jack Findel-Hawkins.
“It was a great first match back on the grass for me, I honestly don’t think I could have played much better, I’m extremely happy,” said the 20-year-old US-American. “It’s never easy playing someone who has such a big serve and it was tough but I served great, protected my serve really well and I did a great job of passing at the net.”
Former Junior Wimbledon champion Filip Peliwo of Canada was another seed to fall on Sunday, the No. 3 seed losing 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4 to Dominik Koepfer from Germany in just over two hours.
Jaimee Fourlis, the No. 1 seed in the women’s event, had to battle back from a set down to defeat wild card Nell Miller from Great Britain 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1 and progress to the final round of qualifying.
The Australian will play No. 7 seed Marina Melnikova of Russia, who ended Emily Appleton’s hopes of qualifying with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory on Court 2, in the first match on Monday.
Brits Ella Taylor and Emily Webley-Smith also tasted defeat, losing to US-American Nadja Gilchrist 6-2, 6-0 and Mariam Bolkvadze of Georgia 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 respectively.
