British pair Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans both secured big wins in Dallas on Thursday, to move just a match away from an all-British final at the Dallas Challenger.
Dan Evans secured his biggest win of the year by defeating German third seed Benjamin Becker 6-1, 6-4 in just under an hour. The Briton, who is also just two matches away from perhaps exceeding his career-high ranking, broke twice in the first set and once in the second. He saved two break points in the first and did not face any in the second set.
Kyle Edmund matched Evans, win but not the perfect serve record. Edmund defeated Grega Zemlja in straight sets, but as in his previous match with James McGee, gave up a break in the first set but broke twice himself to lead. Zemlja was not able to earn any break opportunities in the second set, as Edmund raised his level to finish the match strongly in the 7-5, 6-1 win.
Francis Tiafoe’s encouraging run came to an end at the hands of sixth seed Tatsumo Ito. The Japanese player won the final two sets after Tiafoe had taken the opener, with the final score 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. The key to match was a diminishing first serve delivery from Tiafoe, as it fell from a strong 72% in the first set, before dropping 9% in each of the next two sets and this gave Ito looks at the more vulnerable Tiafoe second serve. Ito duly found one break in the second and two in the third to ensure he plays in the semi-finals.
Semi-final draw and picks (in bold):
Tatsumo Ito vs Dan Evans: Ito may be the sixth seed, but Evans has already conquered both the eighth and third seeds in previous rounds. Evans started the year well, qualifying for the Australian Open for the first time. If we take his good run at the US Challenger Circuit at the back-end of last year into account, it is arguably the most consistent spell of Evans’ career. Ito has done well to get this far, but with Evans in such strong form, I can only see one winner.
Marinko Matosevic OR Tim Smyczek vs Kyle Edmund: Both could easily be tough matches for Edmund, who has played well this week, but has dropped serve a number of times. His break game is strong though. Matosevic has the serve but not necessarily the break game to trouble Edmund unduly. Smyczek had a good but breakable serve and a decent break game. Smyczek would be the tougher challenge, but Edmund should win through regardless.
