Andy Murray and other British players came out to support
Dan Evans against Felix Auger-Aliassime but it didn't matter as the Canadian cruised.
Auger-Aliassime cruised past the Brit 6-4 6-4 6-1 to progress to the fourth round at Melbourne Park for the second year in succession. The
world No. 9 will next face either Marin Cilic or Andrey Rublev in the
fourth round after hitting 41 winners and 16 aces with just 21 unforced
errors in an inspired performance.
Evans was left hugely frustrated with his showing, particularly given he received the unexpected support of a raft of his British teammates from the Davis Cup and ATP Cup in the stands. On that he said:
"Yeah, it's a nice gesture that they came out. They are probably regretting wasting two hours of their time now, and they will probably let me know! So it's good."
On his performance, Evans was very critical:
"I panicked on the court. It was total. I missed my chance and I panicked a bit and that happens in tennis. I’m not going to sit here and say he was too good. I panicked and I felt that. I’m not making excuses but it wasn’t easy to have a walkover, and I sort of lost my momentum a little bit and I never had that before, two days off."