Sunday 22 January 2017 17:14, UK
Dan Evans' Australian Open adventure is over after losing in four sets to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round on Sunday.
The world No 51 Brit battled hard at the Hisense Arena but, despite winning the opening set in a tie-break, was comfortably beaten 6-7 (7-4) 6-2 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 56 minutes.
In a tight first set, which did not yield a single break of serve, the 26-year-old from Birmingham held his nerve in the tie-break securing the only mini-break on the fourth point.
But that was as good as it got for Evans as Tsonga battled back to secure a well-deserved victory, claiming the next three sets without too many concerns.
The No 12 seed, who is a former beaten finalist in Melbourne, made early breaks in sets two, three and four, and clinched a comfortable triumph by serving to love.
Tsonga, who did not drop his serve during the entire match, fired down 17 aces to eight from Evans to book the 15th Grand Slam quarter-final appearance of his career.
Tsonga said: "He played good at the start, and had nothing to lose so it was difficult for me.
"He was taking the ball really early but after that I went over him and I finished strong. I'm really happy to go through."
The defeat of Evans leaves Britain without a representative in the men's singles - following Andy Murray's shock defeat earlier on Sunday - while Tsonga sets up a clash with the No 4 seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4).
Wawrinka, the reigning US Open champion, produced a typically gritty performance to get the better of Seppi who held a set point on his own serve at 6-5 in the third.
The 31-year-old from Switzerland said afterwards: "Yeah, I think this match was the best match of the tournament so far, that's for sure.
"Again, I'm not really worried about trying to improve every match, trying to play better or not.
"I know that my level is there, that physically I'm feeling good. So most important is to win, to still be in the tournament."
Wawrinka leads Tsonga 4-3 in head-to-head meetings, including victories in their most recent three encounters and the latter admitted: "It's going to be a tough match.
"I know Stan's playing really good. It's going to be important for me to play my best level."
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