Birmingham's Dan Evans springs US Open surprise
Birmingham's Dan Evans produced the performance of his career to stun Kei Nishikori on the opening day at the US Open.
The 23-year-old, ranked 179th in the world, outplayed the Japanese No.11 seed throughout their first round meeting at Flushing Meadows to record a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Evans, playing in his first Grand Slam away from Wimbledon, will next face Australian Bernard Tomic.
And he will be optimistic of further progress as a superb run of form on North American hard courts rolls on.
The Briton, who by his own admission has had a poor attitude in the past, began converting his undoubted talent into results earlier this year.
He has surged up the rankings from a place of 367th back in March but victory over Nishikori is a major breakthrough.
"It's definitely a good one," said Evans. "That was pretty good out there to play so well and against someone so highly ranked.
"I felt pretty confident all through the week, and that was a good match. I wasn't worried."
Laura Robson cruised into the second round of the women's singles with a 7-5 6-0 win over Spain's Lourdes Dominguez Lino.
The 30th seed took just an hour and 20 minutes to secure victory and the 19-year-old Londoner said: "I'm really happy with the way I played. Especially in the second set, I really felt like I got a rhythm in the rallies."
