Qatar Open: Dan Evans advances into second round with straight sets win
- Planet Sport writer
- 15 February 2022
Dan Evans booked his place in the second round of the Qatar Open following a straight sets victory against Egor Gerasimov in Doha.
Evans, 31, back in action for the first time since his third-round exit at last month's Australian Open, recorded a comfortable 6-4 6-4 win.
The fifth seed will face either Malek Jaziri or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for a place in the quarter-finals.
And Evans could meet Andy Murray in the last eight after the three-time grand slam winner received a wild card to compete in Qatar.
Murray will go up against Taro Daniel - the Japanese who beat him in the second round of the Australian Open - in his opening match on Tuesday.
Moving into the last 1ā£6ā£
ā LTA (@the_LTA) February 15, 2022
Dan Evans defeated Egor Gerasimov 6-4, 6-4 in Doha#BackTheBrits š¬š§ pic.twitter.com/cfIhYxej3N
Evans admitted at the time of his defeat in Melbourne that he panicked against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
He lost in straight sets 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 but said that despite his opponent's quality, it was himself who lost the game.
"It was total. I missed my chance and I panicked a bit and that happens in tennis. I'm not going to sit here and say he was too good. I panicked and I felt that.
"I'm not making excuses but it wasn't easy to have a walkover and I sort of lost my momentum a little bit and I never had that before, two days off," he said.
"It was difficult. I thought about the match quite a lot and probably overthought it. And to be honest, he was way better than me as well. But I think I didn't get my game on court."
Evans will now begin his doubles campaign in Qatar alongside fellow Brit Ken Skupski on Tuesday. They take on Fabrice Martin and Andrey Golubev.
