Evans, American Trio Win In Washington

Daniel Evans’ blistering July continued at the Citi Open in Washington on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-4 win against former Top 10 player Grigor Dimitrov. Evans, who reached the third round in Wimbledon, overcame a late slip-up to sweep the Bulgarian, who was the 12^th seed at the ATP World Tour 500 event.

Evans led 5-2 in the second set and had three match points at 5-3 but Dimitrov raised his level to get to 4-5. Serving for the match a second time, Evans converted on his fifth match point when Dimitrov netted a backhand slice.

The Brit, No. 82 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will next face American Jack Sock or Slovakian Lukas Lacko in the third round. Lacko prevailed against Canadian wild card Denis Shapovalov, the Wimbledon boys’ singles champion, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4.

Read More: Wimbledon Junior Champ Shapovalov Ready To Transition

The 28-year-old Lacko converted his only break point in the third set to move past the 17-year-old Ontario resident, who was playing in his first ATP World Tour match. “It’s tough to talk about what I did well after such a loss, but I think I was going for my shots pretty well. For the most part I stuck to my game plan,” Shapovalov said. “I felt like he was just solid the whole match. He did not drop his level a whole lot. I think that’s what the difference was today.”

#NextGen player Yoshihito Nishioka moved past Ivan Dodig after the Croat had to retire down 6-2, 4-2.

“Today was very tough… I could see he wanted to play short points, go for forehand winners and service winners, so I did my best to lengthen the rallies and make him move,” said the 20-year-old Japanese, who trained in the U.S. from age 15 to 18. “[The U.S.] is like a second home to me. Everything is comfortable for me here.”

A trio of Americans also advanced to the second round in Washington. Donald Young overcame countryman Ernesto Escobedo 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 47 minutes. Young, who’s making his sixth main draw appearance in Washington, erased six of seven break points and won 84 per cent of his first-serve points.

The 26 year old is looking to surpass his best showing in America’s capital, where he reached the semi-finals in 2011 and 2014. He will next play third seed Bernard Tomic. Young leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0, with both wins coming on hard courts last season.

American Brian Baker edged past Aussie Sam Groth 7-6(3), 7-6(5). Neither player faced a break point in the contest.

American qualifier Ryan Harrison also earned a first-round victory, gliding past Frenchman Stephane Robert 7-6(1), 6-3. Robert was making his Washington debut and playing at a career-high No. 59 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after reaching the semi-finals in Hamburg last week (l. to Klizan, eventual champion). Harrison will look to achieve his best showing in Washington with a second-round win against 10^th seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia.