ATP Adelaide: Evans impressive in return against Hijakata

Daniel Evans beat Australian wildcard Rinky Hijikata 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round of the Adelaide Open at the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre on Tuesday.

The Brit was playing in his first match since injuring his calf in October last year, and looked as though he’d had a productive off-season. Despite only capitalising on one of his first 10 break points, Evans remained patient and broke Hijikata’s serve once in each set, playing clean tennis with 22 winners and just seven unforced errors.

“It was a tough match,” Evans confessed on-court after his victory. “Rinky plays good tennis, he’s very aggressive. I’m happy. It’s always hard playing an Aussie in their home country.”

Of his injury, the 33-year-old said, “It’s challenging to get injured at the end of last year, it took a little while for it to heal. I’m still looking after it, a little nervous on court.”

Evans, ranked No 40, will face Kazakh Alexander Bublik, the No 8 seed, next.

Adelaide ATP 250, other first-round results (Memorial Drive Tennis Centre, hard, USD 661.585, most recent results first):

• Alexander Bublik beat James McCabe (LL): 6-2, 6-3
• Jiri Lehecka (7) beat Adam Walton (Q): 6-1, 6-3
• Lorenzo Sonego beat Yannick Hanfmann: 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (9)
• Jordan Thompson beat Facundo Diaz Acosta (Q): 6-2, 6-2
• Alex Bolt (Q) beat Thiago Seyboth Wild (LL): 6-3, 6-2
• Christopher O’Connell (WC) beat Arthur Rinderknech (Q): 6-4, 6-4
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles (LL): 6-4, 6-3
• Dusan Lajovic beat Thanasi Kokkinakis (WC): 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Mackenzie McDonald: 6-4, 6-2
• Alexander Shevchenko beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry (6): 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-5
• Jack Draper beat Sebastian Baez (5): 6-1, 6-3