May 28, (THEWILL) – Dan Evans’ hopes of a successful French Open campaign were dashed right from the start as he suffered a first-round defeat to Thanasi Kokkinakis, on the opening day of action at Roland-Garros.
The frustrated 33-year-old, seeded 20th, succumbed to a straight sets loss of 4-6, 4-6, 4-6 against the Australian wild card. Evans has struggled to find his footing at this Grand Slam event, with only one career win in seven main-draw matches.
Despite his recent impressive performance in reaching the Barcelona Open semi-final on clay, he was outmatched by his big-serving opponent. Kokkinakis, ranked 108th in the world, advanced to the second round and will face either Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 French Open champion, or Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the world number 67.
In their encounter, both players held their serves until Kokkinakis broke Evans to gain a 4-3 advantage. A series of powerful serves helped Kokkinakis secure the first set with a 6-4 lead after 56 minutes. While Evans showed resilience by breaking Kokkinakis early in the second set, the Australian quickly recovered the break and evened the score. Evans got into a brief surge but Kokkinakis held strong, saving two break points in a gruelling 19-minute game.
Seizing the momentum, Kokkinakis secured consecutive breaks and won five games in a row, positioning himself just a set away from victory. The memories of Andy Murray’s remarkable comeback against Kokkinakis earlier this year at the Australian Open did not hinder the Australian’s concentration.
Kokkinakis took control in the third set, capitalising on his first breakpoint opportunity to gain a 3-2 lead. Evans momentarily showed promise by earning a break-back point at 4-3, but his chance was squandered as Kokkinakis double-faulted, bringing the score back to level.
However, Evans failed to take advantage of the potential momentum shift as Kokkinakis swiftly created three break points. Although Evans managed to save two of them, a return winner from Kokkinakis left Evans with the daunting task of serving to stay in the match, which he failed to do and his participation at Roland Garros ended before it had the chance to get off the first round.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
