Dan Evans progressed to the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters after a hard-fought straight-sets win over Benjamin Bonzi.
The British no.2 put in an impressive display to win 6-0 7-6 (7-4) after edging out a tense second set by winning the tie-break.
It was the perfect response to a clay-court season opener defeat against Pablo Andujar in Marrakech, as he looks to match his semi-final appearance from last year.
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Much of the success for Evans in this match came from playing longer rallies from the back of the court and not coming forward too often.
He raced into a 3-0 in the first set, as Bonzi failed with his first serves. The Brit did well on his service games and took advantage when Bonzi missed a drop shot – the third consecutive break for Evans.
But it was in the second set where Bonzi gave Evans a big scare and managed to get on the board in his first service game to break Evans’ serve.
Evans broke back to hold the score at 4-4 and was able to stay in the set and take the match to a crucial tie-break.
After already winning three tie-breaks during this calendar year, Evans played a superb shot down the line in the second of his three match points.
He will now look forward to a round-of-32 clash with either Belgium's David Goffin or the Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka.
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