Evans targets more major success
Dan Evans has set himself the target of qualifying directly for the Australian Open following his brilliant run at the US Open.
The 23-year-old from Birmingham saw his winning streak ended at five matches in New York with a four-set loss to Tommy Robredo in the third round.
Three qualifying wins and victories in the main draw over Kei Nishikori and Bernard Tomic will see Evans climb from his current ranking of 179 to a new career high of around 150.
He will need to knock almost another 50 off that to make the main draw in Australia in January but, given this time last year he was playing on the Futures Tour, the lowest tier of professional tennis, for very few ranking points, it should not be too difficult to significantly better his tally.
Next up for Evans will be another big stage when Great Britain take on Croatia in a Davis Cup World Group play-off in two weeks' time.
After that he will probably split his time between the second-tier Challenger Tour and attempting to qualify for ATP Tour events - his run here may even bring him the odd wildcard.
A lack of motivation to train and commit himself fully to tennis held him back in the past, but he does not think going back to smaller events after the bright lights of Flushing Meadows will be a problem.
He said: "No one was watching in qualifying here. I only played three matches with big crowds. It's something I'll have to deal with now. It's not going to be me being the underdog quite so much any more in the Challengers.
"I don't see why I won't be in the main draw of the Australian Open. I don't really have anything to defend. To be in the Wimbledon main draw would be the icing on the cake."
Evans might have been preparing for a fourth-round match against Roger Federer had he taken one of two chances to win the fourth set against Robredo and level the match.
Having been two sets down, the soon-to-be British number two fought back impressively and was the better and fitter player in the fourth.
But Robredo is hugely experienced and one of the most resilient players on tour, and he turned the match around again to win 7-6 (8/6) 6-1 4-6 7-5.
Evans was keen to stress that he saw the tournament as just the start, saying: "It's a great experience.
"No one else (British) I don't think has qualified and won two matches here for a long time bar Andy (Murray) so it's a good stepping stone but I'm not where I want to be. I'm not inside the top 100 so I've got some work to do.
"To see a lot of the guys and how they work day in and day out has definitely helped. I think quite a few of them have been impressed at how I've done so it's been good."
The Davis Cup team will be named this week, but Evans is not yet inked on the team sheet alongside Murray, who has committed to playing no matter how long he is detained in New York.
Evans and James Ward have been Britain's Davis Cup heroes over the past couple of years and the latter has more experience on clay.
Croatia's team will be led by world number 38 Ivan Dodig, with 6ft 10in Ivo Karlovic perhaps the number two.
Evans backs himself to continue his impressive record in the competition, but insists he will understand if Ward is preferred.
He said: "I haven't played a lot on clay. By the time I get home and start hitting again I'll probably have 10 days on it. I think I can beat Dodig for sure.
"But if I'm struggling on the clay and James is playing better then that's fine, I'm happy to be a cheerleader."
