British No 1 Dan Evans, who had shocked world No 1 Novak Djokovic on his way to the last four, is beaten by Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets; Greek No 1 to face Russia's Andrey Rublev in Sunday's final; Evans partners Neal Skupski to reach doubles final
Saturday 17 April 2021 17:45, UK
Dan Evans' brilliant run at the Monte Carlo Masters ended with a comprehensive defeat by world No 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals.
Evans backed up his career-best win against world No 1 Novak Djokovic with a three-set triumph against David Goffin on Friday to reach the last four of a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time.
But Greek fourth seed Tsitsipas outclassed Evans 6-2 6-1 at the clay-court event to maintain his perfect record against the British No 1, having also comfortably won their previous two meetings in straight sets.
Tsitsipas will play world No 8 Andrey Rublev in the final after the 23-year-old Russian beat Norway's Casper Ruud 6-3 7-5 to reach his first Masters 1000 final.
Evans sealed his first tour-level victory on clay in four years against Dusan Lajovic in the first round before victory against Miami Open champion Hubert Hurkacz.
The 30-year-old will equal his career-high ranking of 26 on Monday.
"It's been a good week," Evans said. "It's been pretty long. It's been mentally pretty draining.
"Obviously you can't say it's bad to beat the world number one, but it was a lot.
"Today was difficult. Obviously, it doesn't help the way he plays. He's very aggressive. So there's still work to be done. I can't be negative about today. Just have to park that and go again really.
"It's been a great week. I won't ever forget beating Novak, world number one. Yesterday to back it up in a great match was good as well."
Evans and British partner Neal Skupski later reached back-to-back Masters 1000 doubles finals after beating top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6 (7-0) 2-6 10-4.
Skupski, formerly the partner of Jamie Murray, has now won 12 of his last 13 doubles matches on tour and the pair will face a rematch against Miami Open champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the final.
Evans is next in action at this week's Barcelona Open, where he has a first-round bye as players continue their preparations for next month's French Open at Roland Garros.
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