British number two Dan Evans kicked off his 2024 season in victorious fashion with a straight-sets win over Australia's Rinky Hijikata in the first round of the Adelaide International.
The world number 40 took one hour and 38 minutes to prevail 6-3 6-4 in his first-ever top-level showdown with Hijikata and will now face eighth seed Alexander Bublik for a place in the quarter-finals.
A fresh-legged Evans put pressure on the Hijikata serve straight away, winning the first three points on the Australian's serve, but the home favourite recovered from that 40-0 deficit to seal a nervy opening hold.
Evans's efforts would finally pay dividends as he broke for a 3-1 lead, and despite missing another five chances to earn the double break against the world number 70, he remained largely untroubled on serve for the remainder of the first set.
Both men squandered chances to break early doors in the second set before a disastrous fifth service game from Hijikata, who double-faulted no fewer than three times, including on break point for Evans.
The Briton was presented with the chance to serve for the match thanks to Hijikata's collapse, and even though the Australian saved one match point with a forehand smash, Evans advanced on his second match point as Hijikata sent another cross-court forehand into the net.
There was further success for Great Britain in the opening round of Australian Open qualifying, as Ryan Peniston and Billy Harris overcame Elias Ymer and Dimitar Kuzmanov respectively, but Yuriko Miyazaki was eliminated with a straight-sets defeat to Melisa Ercan.
Ben Knapton
