Saturday 16 January 2016 12:30, UK
Dan Evans will play Feliciano Lopez in the first round of the Australian Open after battling through the qualifying competition in Melbourne.
Evans made it into the main draw for the first time in Australia thanks to a 7-5 4-6 6-0 win over America's Bjorn Fratangelo in their third-round clash.
The British No 5 was given nine break-point chances by Fratangelo, and took six of them, with three successive breaks coming his way in a one-sided deciding set.
His reward is a clash with 18th seed Lopez, with Evans having been placed in the same quarter of the draw as British No 1 Andy Murray, who watched his second round win over Amir Weintraub, and No 2 Aljaz Bedene.
He said: "I worked hard in pre-season in La Manga, even in the summer when I was playing in England in the Futures I was trying to work pretty hard and it was playing tennis and staying professional.
"I think that's the difference, just staying focused on court and staying more interested and focused in just playing tennis rather than all the other stuff, and that's pretty much what I did."
As for his impressive display in the third set, he added: "I tried to hold in the first game. It didn't feel like he was on top or any different from when I won the first set.
"So I tried to jump on him early and then carried on rolling from there. That was my plan, just to get a lead in the third. I'd beaten him twice and your belief can start to go when you're losing again to someone who has beaten you twice. It's tough."
