Evans rolls back the years to dismantle Tiafoe at Queen's

Only two summers ago Dan Evans was up at a career-high ranking of 21st in the world.

- FLO CLIFFORD

Now the Birmingham-born player is just a fraction inside the top 200, having dropped out of it altogether earlier this year. His season so far has been one of hard grind with little reward, spent largely plugging away on the lower-tier, lower-profile Challenger tour. He has only won one ATP-level match this season, on the grass last week at 'sHertogenbosch, where he came through qualifying to reach the last-16.

However, somewhere the Brit always comes alive is on the grass. And under bright Queen's Club sunshine on the Andy Murray Arena, Evans produced some of his best inventive, classy tennis to dismantle the world No 13 and seventh seed Frances Tiafoe. His 7-5 6-2 win was his first top-20 victory since October 2023 (coincidentally, also over the American).

Now the British No 7, Evans' slide down the rankings has not necessarily been because of a drop-off in form, but because of the somewhat arbitrary nature of the points system. In August last year, the then 58th-ranked Evans opted not to defend his Washington Open title in favour of entering the Paris Olympics, where he partnered Andy Murray in the Scot's farewell tournament. The consequence was that he slipped to 178th.

It has been a long road trying to claw his way back up, more akin to playing snakes and ladders than professional tennis. At 35, Evans is only too aware that time is not on his side. Earlier this year, he brushed off the idea of retirement, targeting a return to the top 100. After months of toil, it is matches like these that make the grind feel worth it, and it was vintage Evans who took to the court on Monday.