• US Open

Dan Evans stuns seed at US Open

Dan Evans beat Kei Nishikori in straight sets after coming through three qualifying matches to reach the main draw © Getty Images

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British qualifier Dan Evans put on an impressive display to stun 11th seed Kei Nishikori in straight sets in the first round of the US Open.

Evans had to come through three qualifying matches in order to make it through to the main draw at Flushing Meadows, and continues his impressive form to send Nishikori packing, winning 6-4 6-4 6-2.

Nishikori, who defeated Roger Federer at the Madrid Masters earlier in the year, was in control of the opening set after claiming a break. However, Evans hit back to take the set 6-4 with powerful and attacking shots.

Nishikori, ranked 167 places above Evans at No. 12 in the world, looked out-of-sorts and could not deal with Evans' strong performance.

Evans then doubled his lead to leave Nishikori in trouble, and the player who reached the last-16 of the US Open five years ago was facing the prospect of being one of the early seeded casualties of the tournament.

And with the two-set lead to his name, Evans continued to grow in confidence to race into a 3-1 lead in the third set, before only dropping one more game to take it 6-2 and clinch his maiden victory at a grand slam.

"When I saw the draw it was a little bit daunting but I went out and I played a good game and he didn't react that well to how was playing," Evans told Sky Sports. "To go through three matches was an achievement in itself but I didn't want to stop there, I wanted to push on a bit. That's where the points for my ranking keep going up so it was good to come through today."

Evans will now take on Australian Bernard Tomic after he survived an opening-round scare, coming from two sets to one down to see off Albert Ramos 6-3 3-6 4-6 7-6(1) 6-3.

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