Dan Evans is one step closer to a second career title after defeating Maxime Cressy 6-4, 7-6(5) to reach the semi-finals at the Sydney Tennis Classic.
Post-match, Evans was delighted with his performance against one of the few serve-and-volley players on the tour.
“There was nothing in it, Max played very good. He’s got a great serve and I knew it was going to be tough. The style of play he (Cressy) plays, when someone’s confident and wins a lot of matches it makes it even more difficult, so I had to be ready," Evans said in his post-match interview.
The highlight of the match came when Cressy managed to hit an incredible tweener after Evans executed the perfect lob.
Evans will meet Russian No. 1 seed Aslan Karatsev tomorrow for a place in the final.
On the women’s side, Russian Daria Kasatkina stunned World No.3 Gabrine Muguruza 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals in Sydney.
The win is significant for Kasatkina as it’s her first top-five scalp since defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round of the 2018 French Open.
The loss is a major setback for Muguruza who was looking to fine-tune her game before the Australian Open where she will attempt to win a third Grand Slam title.
Spaniard Paula Badasa will meet Kasatkina in the final after defeating Belinda Bencic 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-3 in a tough three-set battle.
Badosa broke in the crucial eighth game of the final set to lead 5-3. From there she was able to serve out the match and book her place in the semi-finals.
Bencic was understandably struggling towards the end of the match after she was required to complete her second-round match earlier in the day. Earlier, Bencic overcame Oceane Dodin 6-2, 5-7 6-3 in a hard-fought match.
Australian’s Alexei Popyrin and Matt Reid scored a stunning upset win over the No. 2 seeds from Colombia Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6(4), 3-6 and 10-7 in the deciding match tiebreak.
They will now meet John Peers and Filip Polasek in the semi-finals after they had a walkover in their quarterfinal against Denis Kudla and Marcus Danielli.
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