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Monte Carlo Masters 2021 - Britain's Dan Evans stuns Novak Djokovic for biggest win of his career
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Published 15/04/2021 at 15:24 GMT+1
The world number 33 knocked out the 18-time Grand Slam champion 6-4 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals in Monaco. It is a remarkable victory for the British number one, who had never before beaten one of the 'big three' of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and had not won a tour level match on clay since 2017 before this week.
Highlights: Evans causes huge shock with win over Djokovic in Monte Carlo
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British number one Dan Evans pulled off the biggest win of his career by knocking Novak Djokovic out of the Monte Carlo Masters in the last 16.
The world number 33 stunned the 18-time Grand Slam champion in straight sets, winning 6-4 7-5 in Monaco.
Before this meeting, Evans had never beaten one of the so-called 'big three' of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and the result is even more remarkable given he only recorded his first clay win on the ATP Tour since 2017 this week.
Evans got off to a brilliant start, breaking Djokovic twice to go 3-0 up, before the world number one got a break back, and then levelled the match at 4-4.
It may have seemed inevitable then that the Serb would go on to continue his momentum, but Evans immediately broke again before holding serve to take the opening set.
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'Well done' - Nadal reacts to Evans stunning Djokovic
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Evans showed all of his fighting spirit in the second set, which started the same way as the first, only in favour of Djokovic who went 3-0 up. Again, though, Evans fought back to level at 3-3 and then got the crucial break to go 6-5 up.
He held his nerve serving for the match to become just the second British player ever to beat a world number one on a clay court.
"He kept me waiting at the start of the match in the changing rooms," Evans told Prime Video Sport.
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'Evans defeat one of the worst I can remember' - Djokovic
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"He gave me some cheap ones today which he never normally does, so I was a little lucky there, but I'm just really happy with coming through.
"It was difficult to get to the net, I felt sometimes I was doing too much running but that's the price you've got to pay sometimes in those matches."
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