Dan Evans of the United Kingdom advanced to the third round of the Australian Open, boosted by a weird point that left his opponent Jeremy Chardy angry.
Dan Evans triumphed 6-4, 6-4, 6-1, although the French veteran was upset because the umpire did not call a breakpoint after a ball slipped out of his pocket in the opening set.
Dan Evans, 32, secured the decisive break when Chardy struck the net and went on to win in less than two hours. “I’m not sure how much he believed in his argument,” said Evans, the 25th seed. Evans put the incident behind him with a composed performance that set up a third-round meeting with Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev.
“You never go out there trying for a fast one, but once I got on top, it was essential to remain on top and take care of the third set,” said Dan Evans, who reached the fourth round in Melbourne in 2017. “I gave up three break points in the first game of the third set, but I did a fantastic job overall.”
Dan Evans is the second British player to reach the third round of the Australian Open this year, following Cameron Norrie, who advanced on Wednesday, and Andy Murray, who hopes to join them by defeating Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis later on Thursday.
Jeremy Chardy obliged that the point is replayed after smashing into the net with the shot after the ball slipped out of his pocket. When a ball falls out of a player’s pocket, it is considered a hindrance, and a let are called, which means the point is resumed.
Jeremy Chardy believed he had been hampered, but tournament regulations state that a player cannot be regarded to have hampered himself. As a result, the umpire could only declare impediment – and replay the point – if she believed the stray ball was impeding Evans rather than Chardy. Evans said he did not see the ball leave Chardy’s pocket.
However, Chardy, 35, termed it the “worst blunder of the Australian Open” and accused the umpire of “watching the birds” rather than the game.
There was a lengthy wait while Chardy appealed the ruling, and even when he was permitted to go on, his protests persisted for the following several games. Evans felt little sympathy for his opponent, but he admitted permitting a let for a ball sliding out of a player’s pocket was the “worst rule ever”.
“I knew Jeremy quite well, so I didn’t really want that to ruin the match. “It was a fun, competitive game,” he remarked. “But if it was me and I actually believed in it I would have been more aggressive in my arguments. The umpire’s sole mistake was letting it go on and not sending us back out there to play.”
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