Daniel Evans of Birmingham, England won his second singles title of his tennis career on Sunday. At 33 years of age, he defeated Tallon Griekspoor of Haarlem, Netherlands 7-5, 6-3 in the final of the 2023 Citi Open from Washington, District of Columbia.
The key to the match was the fact that Evans was able to break Griekspoor in each set. Evans had five break point opportunities, while Griekspoor had four. Evans also won 69 points in the match, while Griekspoor only won 51.
Evans was seeded ninth in the tournament, and got a bye to the second round because he was a seed. His first win was a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over Gregoire Barrere of France. That was followed by a straight set 6-4, 6-3 win over Alexander Shevchenko of Russia in the third round, a 6-4, 7-5 win over 2022 United States Open semifinalist and Washington second seed Frances Tiafoe of Hyattsville, Maryland in the quarterfinals, and a 6-3, 7-6 win over three-time grand slam semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the semifinals. Dimitrov, who was the fifth seed in Washington, made the final four at Wimbledon in 2014, the Australian Open in 2017, and the United States Open in 2019.
Evans’s prior ATP title came at the 2021 Murray River Open in Melbourne. The event was used as a tuneup event for the Australian Open, with Evans beating Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in the final, 6-2, 6-3. Like Tiafoe and Dimitrov, Auger-Aliassime is a grand slam semifinalist, as he made the final four of the 2021 United States Open.
Evans became the second British tennis player to win the Citi Open. He follows six-time grand slam semi-finalist Tim Henman of Oxford, who won the title in 2003 for his 10th of 11 ATP championships. Henman, who reached the semifinal of Wimbledon in 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2002, alongside the 2004 French Open and United States Open, beat Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4 in the 2003 Washington Open final.
