Dan Evans has progressed through to the third round of the Australian Open with a four-set victory over Marin Cilic.
The British number three entered this tournament on the back of an appearance in the final at the Apia International in Sydney, and he continued that form in a fine performance over the seventh seed as he ran out a 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-3 winner.
In September at the US Open, Evans missed one match point to beat eventual winner Stanislas Wawrinka, but it appeared that his next clash with a Grand Slam champion would be one-way traffic after Cilic breezed to the opening set.
Cilic also had the better of the second but Evans rallied towards the end of the set and in the 12th game, he secured the break of serve which brought him level with the big-serving Croatian.
The momentum swing was complete when Evans struck again in the fourth game of the third and he moved to within a set of the biggest win of his career without having to face a break point.
It was a different story in the fourth, however, as Cilic let loose on the Birmingham-based player's serve, but he was unable to convert any of his eight break-point chances in the second game of the set.
The pair then traded breaks but Cilic's game continued to unravel, and just short of the three-hour mark, Evans secured his third break of the set to clinch a famous triumph.
Evans will now face Australia's Bernard Tomic, with that match likely to be staged in the evening session in Melbourne on Friday.
Darren Plant
