Great Britain's Dan Evans has exited the Australian Open at the fourth-round stage following a 6-7(4) 6-2 6-4 6-4 defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Evans had overcome Marin Cilic and Bernard Tomic to make it this far in the competition but, shortly after seeing compatriot Andy Murray crash out, the world number 51 himself came unstuck.
The opening set of the match proved to be an almighty battle, as the Englishman started in a confident manner and took it all the way to a tie-break.
It was Evans who held his nerve to take a lead in the contest, but Tsonga upped things and his impressive serving started to tell as he twice broke his opponent early in the second set to level things up.
Tsonga then took the third set in a more straightforward manner, again breaking Evans early on before seeing things through, and the world number 12 was home and dry by earning the only break in the third game of the final set.
Stanislas Wawrinka, who battled past Andreas Seppi in straight sets on Sunday morning, now awaits Tsonga in the quarter-finals.
Daniel Lewis
