NOTTINGHAM, June 15, 2019 (Press Release)

British No. 3 Dan Evans battled back from a break down in the deciding set against Swedish fifteenth seed Mikael Ymer to reach the quarter-final stage for the second consecutive year in Nottingham’s Nature Valley Open, an LTA summer grass court event.

The ATP Challenger event top seed, who is ranked No. 70 in the world, also broke serve at 5-5 and served out to complete the 6-2 2-6 7-5 victory in two hours and 23 minutes, with persistent rain forcing the men’s event indoors.

Having secured the Surbiton Trophy last week, Birmingham-born Evans, 29, has notched up seven wins in a row and will next face unseeded German Dominik Koepfer in the last eight.

“I didn’t do much to put myself in a bad position [against World No. 123 Ymer],” Evans said. “He played pretty well. I’ve played a lot of matches but I’m not playing my best tennis out there, so I’m fighting pretty hard.

“Against these young guys, it’s tough for them to get over the line. I’m not sure they all believe they can beat me, so it was a matter of just hanging in there. But I got over the line, so that’s good.”

On his quarter-final clash against Koepfer, whom he beat in the first round on his way to the 2018 final at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, Evans added: “We played at Delray Beach and here in Nottingham last year. I think his game suits the grass so I’m looking forward to it.”

Earlier in the day, in the concurrent WTA International singles event, Germany’s Tatjana Maria reached her first Tour-level semi-final since winning the grass court title in Mallorca last year, defeating Australian sixth seed Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 7-6(7) on Centre Court during a period of dry weather in Nottingham. Friday evening’s play continues indoors.

👏 @Maria_Tatjana is into the #NatureValleyOpen semi-finals!

Maria battled past No.6 seed Tomljanovic 6-3, 7-6(7) 💪

📽️ @WTA pic.twitter.com/2PXzO2lPZa

— LTA (@the_LTA) 14. Juni 2019