DAN Evans has made up with Kevin Pietersen, but gone down at the Australian Open after losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round in Melbourne.
Evans was defeated 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 by Tsonga, bringing an end to an excellent tournament for the British No 3. Evans had knocked out world No 7 Marin Cilic and Australian Bernard Tomic on his way to the fourth round.
The Englishman was also treated to a colourful meeting withhis cricketing hero Pietersen, who snubbed the 26-year-old’s request for a photo. Evans made his disappointment public and, as well as receiving an apology, Evans was given two tickets to watch Pietersen’s side Melbourne Stars in a match with Sydney Sixers on Saturday.
“Probably KP inbox-ing me [was the highlight of the week],” said Evans, smiling. “Wondering what is going to happen to his image, that’s probably the only reason he did it.
“No, it’s all cool, it’s fine. I was going [to the Stars match] anyway, but he just gave us the tickets. It was a good match, actually.”
Evans – who has earned £134,000 for his run to the last 16 – succumbed to Tsonga’s superior strength of hitting, with the 31-year-old unleashing 59 winners and 17 aces in a clinical display of power-tennis.
“He was just a bit too strong for me,” said Evans, who is expected to break into the top 50 in the world rankings as a result of his exploits in Melbourne. “I played pretty well. I was pretty sore. He was so physical. To win the first set took too much out of me.
“I need to maybe get a bit fitter so I can last out those matches. I was flagging pretty much after the first set. I did feel that in the match. My body was sore.
“Maybe that’s something I can improve on a bit. But I’ve still come a long way from where I was last year.”
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