British No 1 Dan Evans is playing himself into form nicely ahead of the Australian Open; he faces Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime in Sunday's final; Evans is looking for his first ATP title after losing finals in Sydney in 2017 and Delray Beach in 2019
Saturday 6 February 2021 14:08, UK
Dan Evans dominated Jeremy Chardy to reach the third ATP Tour final of his career at the Murray River Open in Melbourne where he will play Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The British No 1 played himself into excellent form during two matches on Friday, the second of which brought him victory over fourth seed Borna Coric at the Australian Open warm-up event.
Evans raced to a 4-0 lead against Frenchman Chardy - who had won all three of their previous meetings - and did not let up, easing to a 6-2 6-2 victory after exactly an hour.
Evans is looking for his first title after losing finals in Sydney in 2017 and Delray Beach in 2019, where he held three match points against Radu Albot before falling to defeat.
"I played pretty well today," said Evans, who took painkillers for a sore calf early in the match. "It was good to get a quick match. Obviously, I had a pretty long day yesterday, so it was good to go through in straight sets."
It will be a first meeting for Evans against 20-year-old Auger-Aliassime, who is one of the sport's brightest young stars. The third seed was even more convincing winner over Corentin Moutet 6-1 6-2 and hopes this will be the moment where he finally wins a first title.
A first title is obviously a big carrot, particularly as it would see Evans hit a new career-high ranking of 26, but his thoughts are also on an Australian Open first-round clash with fellow British player Cameron Norrie on Tuesday.
Evans said of Auger-Aliassime: "He's a very good tennis player, very aggressive, big game. I'll have to try and stop his attacking play. Maybe me play a bit more aggressive and put him on the defensive.
"Today is great preparation for next week. Tomorrow, as well. It's a match, but it's match practice. Hopefully, it can put me in good stead to win some matches next week."
Auger-Aliassime, who has lost each of his six finals on the men's ATP Tour, said: "I'm well aware of my record in finals, but I think tomorrow is another match. I had very difficult matchups in my last finals in terms of rankings. This time it's different, but it doesn't mean that it gets any easier."
After being knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round last year, Auger-Aliassime faces German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in the opening round of the year's first Grand Slam and he is confident his game is in good shape.
"I'm being more and more mature with how I play. My feeling is that I'm able to bring more consistency through the matches," he said. "I do feel like I'm a better player than I was 12 months ago, so we'll see."
Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka joined Serena Williams as high-profile withdrawals from the Australian Open warm-up events.
Williams pulled out on Friday citing a shoulder injury, handing world No 1 Ashleigh Barty a free passage through to the final of the Yarra Valley Classic.
Osaka withdrew from the Gippsland Trophy with a similar issue, sending Elise Mertens through to the final, while Azarenka pulled out of the Grampians Trophy ahead of her quarter-final against Anett Kontaveit.
The delay caused by Thursday's stoppage following a positive coronavirus test for one of the employees at a quarantine hotel means the final of the Grampians Trophy will not be played.
Instead, only the semi-finals will be played. Kontaveit will take on the in-form Maria Sakkari, who defeated Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-2, while seventh seed Jennifer Brady faces American Ann Li.
Mertens' opponent in the Gippsland Trophy final will be Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, who saw off Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3 7-6 (8-6).
Former world No 1 Garbine Muguruza sounded out a warning to her Australian Open rivals with a 6-1 6-0 thrashing of Marketa Vondrousova to set up a Yarra Valley Open final against Barty.
Daniil Medvedev fired Russia into the final of the ATP Cup on Saturday with a tense 3-6 6-3 7-5 win over an injury-hampered Alexander Zverev.
Russia will meet surprise package Italy in Sunday's final after Matteo Berrettini sealed a 2-0 win against Spain by beating Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3 7-5.
Rafael Nadal again sat on the sidelines for Spain. The world No 2 will go into the Australian Open without having played a warm-up match after missing all three of Spain's matches with a back problem.
Concerns over Nadal's fitness have been played down, and he did take part in last week's exhibition event in Adelaide, but it is not the preparation he would have wanted for a Grand Slam.
Italian teenager Jannik Sinner is one win away from a second consecutive ATP title after saving a match point to beat Karen Khachanov in the Great Ocean Road Open.
Having served for the match, 19-year-old Sinner found himself match point down at 5-6 in the third set but eventually held before taking the tie-break and a 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 7-6 (7-4) victory.
Sinner, who will play fellow Italian Stefano Travaglia, said: "I think it was a good match from both of us. He was tired, I was tired.
"I think mentally we both were quite strong. I'm very happy to be in the finals tomorrow, and trying to sleep, trying to rest in the best possible way. Then we will see how I feel tomorrow."
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