STARNBERG, February 7, 2021
Daniel Evans claimed his first ATP Tour title after defeating Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in Sunday’s Murray River Open final in Melbourne.
The 30-year-old from Great Britain continued his impressive form into the lead-up to the Australian Open, which begins on Monday, by beating the tournament’s No. 3 seed in their first meeting with a commanding 6-2, 6-3 victory on Margaret Court Arena.
Evans, who had edged out Pedro Sousa of Portugal, US-American Marcos Giron, Borna Coric from Croatia and French veteran Jeremy Chardy without losing a set en-route to the championship match, converted five of his eight break-point chances against Auger-Aliassime to prevail in just 77 minutes.
The World No. 33 had made two previous on the ATP Tour – in Sydney in 2017 and Delray Beach in 2019 – but lost both.
The perfect end to a perfect week 👏
🎥: @TennisTV | 🇬🇧 Dan Evans | #MurrayRiverOpenpic.twitter.com/qHjvwfOgRR
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 7, 2021
“It was good to be out there and win, but like I said last year, this year I wanted to do well in the bigger events. I didn’t have great Grand Slams last year, albeit a strange year, but my focus is on this week now. I’ve got a tough match against Cam (Norrie) and hopefully get through that one,” said Evans.
“I want to do well next week, but delighted with how today went and this week, but it’s over now, and look forward to Tuesday.”
The long-awaited triumph for Evans came despite the fact he is playing without a coach while in Australia. The British No. 1 split from mentor Mark Hilton last year after the coach decided to take up a full-time role with the Lawn Tennis Association. Evans pocketed $19,050 in prize money as well as 250 ATP Ranking points.
