Great Britain's Dan Evans produced a mesmerising turnaround to defeat Italy's Lorenzo Sonego in the first round of the Miami Open.
The 33-year-old was on course for a fourth successive defeat on the ATP Tour as Sonego ran him ragged in the first set, but Evans kept his composure and battled back to win 1-6 6-3 6-4 in two hours and 23 minutes.
The Briton's triumph was just his third win of a challenging 2024 campaign so far, following previous successes in Adelaide and Los Cabos, and he will tackle American 31st seed Christopher Eubanks in round three.
Sonego had prevailed in his first three clashes with Evans on the ATP Tour, including a four-set success at this year's Australian Open, and he would ostensibly improve to 4-0 as he reeled off a brilliant five-game winning streak in the opening set.
However, a break for Evans right off the bat in the second set saw the momentum shift into the 33-year-old's favour, and he did not allow Sonego a single chance to break as he forced a decider, where he quickly drew first blood once again.
Unforced errors were hindering Sonego's chance of clawing back control of the contest, and after bringing up his first match point with a beautiful deft backhand down the line, Evans found a powerful first serve which Sonego could only return into the net.
The British number three managed just 14 winners compared to a huge 41 for Sonego, whose remarkable shot-making wowed the Miami crowd on several occasions, but Evans took 20 of their 29 points at the net in a dominant close-range display.
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Sharing Evans's success, fellow Briton Katie Boulter - who entered the Miami Open in the second round as the 24th seed - edged a tight first set against the Czech Republic's Brenda Fruhvirtova before her teenage foe retired.
The San Diego Open winner was squaring up to the 16-year-old protege for the first time on the WTA Tour and was broken to 15 by the youngster in the opening game, only to hit back straight away.
A second break for Fruhvirtova in the fifth game was also met with the required response from Boulter, who broke back to love while the world number 105 - who was starting to feel the effects of the Florida heat - was serving for the set.
The unforgiving conditions nearly claimed Matteo Berrettini on Wednesday - the Italian was close to fainting in his three-set loss to Andy Murray - but Fruhvirtova soldiered on to the tie-breaker, albeit with no reward as Boulter came up trumps.
After losing serve in the first game of the second set, Fruhvirtova called it a day at 6-7[5] 0-1 down, meaning that Boulter - who won 83% of her first-serve points on the day - will compete in the third round of the Miami Open for the first time.
Awaiting the British number one in the last 32 is Brazilian 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, who came from a set down to defeat Diane Parry and is out for revenge against Boulter, whom she lost to in the last 16 of the San Diego Open before the 24th seed won her maiden WTA Tour title.
Ben Knapton
