Dan Evans returns to third round with victory over James Duckworth

Back in the grounds of his favourite grand slam, Dan Evans continued his rich run of form during the North American hard court swing as he returned to the third round of the US Open by defeating Australia’s James Duckworth 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

After second-round victories for Andy Murray and Jack Draper on Wednesday, Evans’s win means Great Britain have three men through to the US Open third round for just the second time in the Open Era. Cameron Norrie was playing João Sousa last night, attempting to make it four British men past round two for the first time in the Open era.

Evans initially cruised to a two-set lead courtesy of a clean, disciplined performance against the world No 83 but he dropped the third set and suddenly found himself 3-1 down in the fourth, an unwanted fifth set possibly on the horizon. Under considerable pressure, Evans retrieved the break and rolled through five of the last six games to reach the third round where he will face the No 15 seed, Marin Cilic.

Having arrived in North America ranked 40th after a poor run of form that included a first-round loss at Wimbledon, Evans has risen back to 23rd in the ATP rankings, just below his career-high ranking of 22. Early last month in Montreal, Evans reached his second career Masters 1000 semi-final, beating the top 15 players Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz en route.

The US Open is Evans’s best grand slam tournament by a considerable distance and the 32-year-old said he much prefers the vibe in New York to Wimbledon. “It’s just a difficult time of year,” he said of his home slam. “I don’t particularly enjoy it. It’s just a harder time of year to play tennis and very different to the day in, day out stuff on the tour. It’s way busier for the Brits. It’s