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Rising American star Brandon Nakashima couldn't hide his happiness after beating top-ranked British tennis player Dan Evans at the Citi Open in Washington. Nakashima, who is coming off back-to-back ATP finals appearances in Los Cabos and Atlanta, is aiming to also make a deep run in Washington.
Nakashima, who is enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 89 in the world, handed a 7-6 (1) 6-0 loss to Evans to progress into the Washngton round-of-16. "It definitely feels great right now. Having all this confidence from playing all these matches, going deep in tournaments has been good for me," Nakashima sai, per the ATP website.
"I'm sure every player would want to have this feeling right now of playing well and winning all these matches. I'm just trying to embrace it as much as possible."
Evans praises Nakashima
World No. 27 Evans absolutely believes that Nakashima has got a bright future.
Evans, who was playing his first tournament since Wimbledon, got outplayed by Nakashima on Wednesday. "I think he's got obviously a very big future. He seems very calm and levelheaded, which is a good thing. He played good today.
He put me away pretty convincingly in the end," said Evans, who missed the Tokyo Olympics due to COVID-19. "He's going to be a good player." Nakashima saved a break point in the opening game of the match, before earning the first break of the match in the sixth game for a 4-2 lead.
Nakashima failed to serve out for the opener in the ninth game as Evans saved a set point before breaking back the American. Failing to serve out for the opener in the ninth game didn't affect Nakashima as he took a 5-0 lead in the tie-break.
Evans won only one point in the tie-break as Nakashima realized his second set point to win a tight opener. After winning a tight first set, Nakashima absolutely dominated Evans in the second set as he broke the Briton three times to book a straight-set win.