Dan Evans through to Grand Prix Hassan II semi-finals, Dominic Thiem and Casper Ruud in Estoril action later

Dan Evans prevailed through to the Grand Prix Hassan II semi-finals with a 6-3 7-5 win over Andrea Vavassori.

Evans has historically endured a tough time on clay and arguably his last notable achievement on the surface came at the Monte Carlo Masters in 2021, when he sensationally dumped out Novak Djokovic in the round of 16 and David Goffin in the quarter-finals.

It had also been a troubling start to the 2023 for the Brit after losing all of his previous six matches before beating Popyrin.

He could ill-afford to take the Italian lightly, who already dumped out Nicolas Jarry and Jaume Munar in the opening two rounds, leaving him at the quarter-final stage of an ATP event for the first time.

The world No. 30 won the first set after breaking Vavassori in the first game on his second break point, using the full length of the court exceptionally well.

He won the next game on his serve to stave off two break points for the Italian – the only two he faced in his impressive first set display.

The next six games all went to serve before Vavassori showed admirable resistance in a gripping ninth and final game, and finally succumbed to Evans on the third set point.

Evans was halfway towards victory after 55 minutes of play, and was certainly made to sweat in Moroccan sunshine at times by a man ranked 201st in the world.

The first four games of the decisive second set all went to serve before Vavassori broke Evans for the first time in the match, winning the fifth game to love and moving 3-2 ahead.

After that, the following four games went to serve again, but the pendulum swung towards Evans after breaking the Italian again to level the score at 5-5 with a superb backhand shot.

He won the next game before sealing the second set 7-5 on his second match point, concluding the match in one hour and 49 minutes.

The result was harsh for Vavassori, who has now lost all four of his matches against top-50 ranked opponents, following defeats to Denis Shapovalov, Frances Tiafoe and Albert Ramos Vinolas at Stockholm 2021, Wimbledon 2022 and Genoa Challenger 2022 respectively.

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