Australian Open 2020 news - Dan Evans comes back from two sets down to defeat Mackenzie McDonald

The British number one struggled to get going against the unseeded American and went down by two sets as he faced an early exit.

But Evans showed great resilience to roar back and dug deep to win three sets in a row in a match that lasted three hours and 21 minutes on Court 14.

As he celebrated, Evans was seen to be patting his stomach in the direction of his team.

Asked afterwards what the gesture meant by Eurosport's Annabel Croft, Evans said he was making clear that there are no concerns with his fitness, after Tin Henman had made comments about his weight during the ATP Cup.

Henman was captaining Britain at the event and said that the 29-year-old "could miss a few meals". So Evans said that coming through a five-setter on day one of the Australian Open was a timely response.

“Just that I’m fit enough to come through," Evans told Eurosport. "It’s pretty ironic after what’s just happened that I went five today. But I’m happy, just pretty relieved to come through. I wanted to start building momentum again and it’s good to come through.

“It was tough conditions. He hasn’t played in quite a while and I thought he would come out trying to be aggressive and it was just difficult. I started poorly and just hung in there really. It was good to come through and it’s good that when I’m not playing well I can win.

"I just started to hit the ball, it sounds silly, run a lot more. Go back to the basics of hitting the ball in and running. Building some pressure like that. My game wasn’t working, it was obviously windy, so that’s what I did. I took care of my serve then came out on top.

“It was great. There’s always great crowds here in Australia and especially, I was saying yesterday actually, that there’s always a lot of Brits come and watch. It’s great that they come out to watch me and hopefully they’ll come again on Wednesday."