- Dan Evans claimed a first ATP tour title in the Murray River Open
- Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares won their first title together after their reunion in the Great Ocean Open
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – British No. 1 Dan Evans and the renewed pairing of Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares came up trumps with titles in the Murray River Open and Great Ocean Road Open.
[table “ADPDAll” not found /]
Dan Evans wins first ATP Tour title
It really did turn out to be third time’s the charm for the current British No. 1 Dan Evans, as he comfortably outplayed Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime to win a maiden ATP Tour title. Despite having six Challenger titles to his name, he had tried and failed twice to win at a tour level (Sydney 2017, Delray Beach 2019) and it had been a battle from the off after two weeks of difficult practice.
Evans had found himself challenged in his two earlier rounds as he sought to shake off the rust, before things coming together in his game against both Borna Coric and Jeremy Chardy.
Auger-Aliassime was attempting to get over the line for a seventh time in finals and had been serving up a storm in his matches, and certainly looked like his serving arm was on fire in his first couple of service games.
Evans was the first to break, converting his single break point chance to take the lead, and from there in the first set it was one-way traffic, breaking again to win four games on the spin to take the first set.
Every now and again there were flashes of the brilliant flashy play we have come to expect from the young Canadian but again went down an early break, and when he broke a somewhat heavy-armed Evans as he served for the match, it looked as though the Brit had just opened the door for the Canadian to stay in the set.
Evans regrouped to break Auger-Aliassime again, this time for the title, 6-2 6-3.
As reported in ATPTour.com, Evans said: “I think the last three matches I really put my game on the court and was decisive on how I was going to play, made clear decisions, and to come forward and be aggressive. The match point probably summed it up, to hit forehand down the line and finish at the net was sort of a pretty good way to finish it.”
Evans will face Cameron Norrie in the first round of the Australian Open.
 |
|---|
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares open reunion with Great Ocean Road Open title
There will be some that remember that when the new partnership of Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares took to the Australian courts in 2016, they started with a title in Sydney before going on to claim the Australian Open title and the US Open that same year.
Having renewed their partnership, it felt like déjà vu as they beat the top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-3, 7-6(7). It was an 11th tour-level title as a partnership.
As reported by ATPTour.com, Murray said after the match: “We had a great week, obviously, to win the title here [in] our first tournament back together. It’s really exciting. Beat some top teams along the way. I think it kind of reinforces [for] us what we can do when we put good performances out on the court each day.”
Murray and Soares are seeded No. 6 in the Australian Open men’s doubles draw and will face Marcos Giron and Norrie in the first round.
How to Watch/Follow the Australian Open
| TV | Eurosport & highlights on BBC |
| Live Stream | Eurosport Player via Amazon Prime
(Sign up for 30 day free trial of Prime Video and a 7-day free trial of Eurosport Player) |
| Live Scores | Tennis Live Scores on Britwatch Sports |
| Follow Britwatch - Sport in General, Brits in Particular! | |
|---|---|
| Soundcloud | |
| YouTube | |
| We may receive compensation for products purchased via affiliate links on this website | |