Sydney - Dan Evans

Fantastic result for Evans today, seeing off the #1 seed Thiem, after beating Granollers yesterday. A good jump in the rankings to 55, with another win taking him to the edge of the top 50 and to his first ATP final.

Kuznetsov in the semi final with Troicki or Muller in the final. Obviously not easy, but winnable.

I saw the first set of the Thiem match and to be fair he was doing well to keep it close, Thiem was smashing winners everywhere. He's done well to turn that around.

Guest82 wrote:Kuznetsov in the semi final with Troicki or Muller in the final.   Obviously not easy, but winnable.

I saw the first set of the Thiem match and to be fair he was doing well to keep it close, Thiem was smashing winners everywhere.  He's done well to turn that around.  

Agree with that - wouldn't start as favourite in any of the possible match ups but could win any of them. Similar to the position Edmund had late last season, in going deep in a lesser tournament. Again, similar to Kyle, he's had some experience of winning events at Challenger level, but it's a big step up and change of mentality to think about winning ATP level events.

He's 2.5 (6/4) to beat Kuznetsov tomorrow. Got to give him a chance.

I am a big fan of Evans. Watched him play Tiafoe in a challenger final last year and he closed it out without any nerves. Although did show a few against Stan at USO.

My concern for Dan is that the secret is out - so to speak. He can spring surprise wins (we have seen it before in his career) but once the media begin focussing on him that is where he seems to run into a brick wall.

I think the problem was always commitment to the sport. He was always capable of the odd big win, his talent probably got him through.

Recently seems as though he is taking tennis seriously and is starting to get the benefits. Following him on twitter he seems to have spent a lot of time in the off season training and getting into good shape.

Hope it continues.

Impressive win from Jo Konta to thrash Radwanska and win her second career title. She's got a tough draw at the Oz but, on that sort of form, she's a genuine threat for the title.

Evans a set up in his SF.

And Evans eventually completes the win in three sets. Decent match, and a good performance from Evans, who moves to his first ATP final .

Really good win for Evans. Give him a good chance in the final too.

Konta has the advantage of home support at the Australian open. Sorry couldn't resist!

Guest82 wrote:Really good win for Evans. Give him a good chance in the final too.

Muller is an absolutely terrible match up for him and should win in straights. That said, Muller is arguably the best active player not to have won an ATP title (0-5 in finals) and will be intriguing to see how, at 33, he copes with being favourite.

Congratulations to Gilles Muller. At the age of 33 he has finally won his first ATP title after five losses in his previous finals. For Dan Evans it is another step forward in his career in teaching the final and hopefully he can continue to progress.

Dan lost but this is a beaut moment https://twitter.com/7tennis/status/820217131715301378