Dan Evans: British No. 2 dumped out of Australian Open by Andrey Rublev who hits 60 winners in third round

Updated 21/01/2023 at 06:25 GMT

Dan Evans is out of the Australian Open in the third round for the second year in a row. Evans has never gone beyond the fourth round in Melbourne - achieved once in 2017 -and he could not find a way past Andrey Rublev in 2023 on Margaret Court Arena. Rublev now holds a 5-4 head-to-head record against the British No. 2 and has extended his win record to 28-0 when he is up two sets in a Grand Slam.

Highlights: Relentless Rublev sweeps aside Evans in stunning fashion

Andrey Rublev is through to the last 16 of the Australian Open for the third time in his career after a 6-4 6-2 6-3 win over Great Britain’s Dan Evans.

Rublev and Evans engaged in plenty of tight rallies for a set and a half before the Russian began to step up the intensity.

The 25-year-old hit 60 winners, slammed down 10 aces and won 80 per cent of his points on his first serve to seal an emphatic straight-sets victory.

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The No. 5 seed will play 19-year-old Dane Holger Rune in the last 16, following his three-set win over Ugo Humbert, as he aims to progress beyond the quarter-final stage for the first time.

"Every match I'm playing better and better," Rublev said after one of the best performances of his career. "I'm really happy because at the beginning of the season I lost a couple of tough matches against great players. I lost a bit of confidence and I'm happy that since the first match I'm playing really good tennis. I'm really happy and we'll see what's going to happen next.

"After the first set I started to feel confident, I started to feel that I can play even better. I can play even faster. As soon as I did it I started to feel even better. I felt he was uncomfortable so I tried to play even more aggressive, but in the end I was still playing really good tennis."

Rublev piled heavy pressure on Evans’ opening service games and he was having plenty of joy at the net. Evans had to save a break point after a seven-minute game to make it 3-3.

With the rallies getting longer, the Russian had to save a break point in the next game. But he got the break that mattered when Evans was serving to stay in the net. A poor sliced backhand from the British No. 2 floated into the net to give Rublev an early advantage in the match.

Evans was playing some fine tennis and pulled Rublev around the court, but the world No. 6 got the decisive break of the second set, coming from 0-40 down to take a 4-2 lead when his opponent floated a backhand into the net.

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Suddenly Rublev stepped his game up considerably and he sealed the set on Evans’ serve with a ferocious forehand winner down the line to take a commanding two-set lead.

Momentum was firmly with Rublev who went a break up in the third to take a 2-0 advantage after hitting back-to-back winners.

Rublev was evidently frustrated when he squandered five break points to hand Evans his first game in the set, but it mattered little in the end as he held his remaining service games to secure the win in two hours and 10 minutes.