Briton Dan Evans has won his second consecutive grass court title on home soil, beating Russian 13th seed Evgeny Donskoy, 7-6(3), 6-3, to clinch the ATP Challenger singles title and lift the Paul Hutchins Trophy at the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham.
The Birmingham-born home favourite took to Centre Court on Sunday evening after winning his semi-final earlier in the day, with the week-long rain disruption pushing the final rounds of the men’s schedule into the last day.
Having lost out in the final in Nottingham last year to Alex de Minaur, the top-seeded Evans continued his fine form this summer despite the tough conditions. He beat both of his Sunday opponents in straight sets to secure his eighth Challenger title after winning the Surbiton Trophy last week.
Evans said:
“It’s been a good week, carrying on strongly from last week. I played very well in the first match [today]. The second match, I was a bit frustrated and I was very tired. But I didn’t lose a set today, so I can’t be too unhappy. I played well out there, despite the wind.”
The current world No70, who will rise to 63 in the new rankings on Monday, had never won a title on grass before last week. But he has become only the third player to win multiple grass court Challenger titles in the same year since 2000—emulating Daniele Bracciali (2005) and Yen-Hsun Lu (2016)—after he converted his second match point to make it 10 wins in a row.
That the men’s singles trophy is named in honour of Britain’s longest serving Davis Cup Captain made the win extra special for Evans.
“It’s amazing to be the first winner of the Paul Hutchins Trophy. He was a massive part of me growing up. He was here last year and it feels a bit empty without him this year. It was really good to win, and hopefully he watched down on that,” Evans said at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, where Hutchins was also Tournament Director.
“I’ve had a lot to do with Paul. Obviously, I know his son Ross, so I’m proud to be the first winner of his trophy, and I’m sure Paul would be pretty happy that I was the first winner of his trophy, because he really enjoyed the way I played.
“He always encouraged me to keep working hard, so it’s great to win it. Hopefully everyone in the Hutchins family is happy that I won it.”
Next up for Evans is a first-round clash with Stan Wawrinka at the Fever-Tree Championships at the Queen’s Club in London.
Tickets are still available at www.fever-treechampionships.com