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Dan Evans rises ten places in ATP rankings following Sunday’s Surbiton Trophy win

Dan Evans defeated Viktor Troicki 6-2 6-3 to be crowned Surbiton Trophy champion on Sunday.

Evans is the first Brit to win an ATP Challenger on UK soil since he won his first title in Jersey in 2009.

He rose ten places in the ATP Rankings from world number 80 to 70 on Monday following the victory.

Evans said: “I played very well in the final. I’m happy to walk away with the win.

“It’s great to play so many matches this week and get my feet going again on the grass.”

The match got off to a perfect start for the Briton with Evans breaking his opponent’s first service game and quickly opening up a 5-1 lead before clinching the first set 6-2.

After a rain delay, Evans raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set before Troicki drew level.

But fourth seed Evans’ groundstrokes proved too strong for the former world number 12 as the Brit won the next three games to claim a straight sets victory in 72 minutes.

He said he is now ready to compete at the Queen’s Club Championships and Wimbledon.

After the match Troicki said Evans prevented him from performing to his best ability.

He described himself as being flat on court having played both his quarter-final and semi-final on Saturday due to rain preventing play on Friday.

Earlier in the day American Alison Riske beat former Wimbledon semi-finalist Magdalena Rybáriková 6-7 (5) 6-2 6-2 in a thrilling women’s singles final to defend her title.

The pair traded early breaks before Rybáriková saved two set points in a mammoth 23-point service game to level the scores at 5-5.

Rybáriková, who beat Heather Watson on her way to the final, edged the evenly matched first set in the tiebreak.

Both players broke early in the second set but Riske took control and won the set 6-2.

The American started to run away with the deciding set, opening up a 3-0 lead with a double break, but Rybáriková rallied to break back.

Riske pulled away again and converted her third championship point to win 6-2 in the third.

The high-quality hitting on display was praised by spectators who described it as one of the best women’s finals in recent years.

Riske said: “Magda’s obviously one of the best grass courters in the world, she’s proven herself year after year so to be able to compete and pull off the win was huge for me.

“I just kept a steady game, going for my shots, being aggressive and over time it worked out for me.”

The two-time Surbiton champion said she plans to return next year to attempt a hat-trick of titles.

Due to rain delays earlier in the week the men’s doubles final was also played on Sunday.

Top seeds Marcel Granollers and Ben McLachlan defeated Soonwoo Kwon and Ramkumar Ramanathan 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 to claim the title.

The first two sets were decided by a single break but Granollers and McLachlan dominated the 10-point tiebreak to win the match in the pairing’s first tournament together.
McLachlan said: “It was a really tough match.

“These guys came out on fire and they were serving really aggressive and we didn’t get many chances until Marcel came out with an unbelievable game to break in the second so we’re really happy to get through a tough match.”

Both players already have partners for Wimbledon, with Granollers announcing he will play with his brother for the first time at the grand slam, but the duo hope to play together again soon.

All the weekend’s matches took place in front of a sold-out crowd.

Tournament Director George Donnelly said: “We have enjoyed a great week at the Surbiton Trophy with an outstanding player field, record attendance figures and some great British performances, most notably Dan Evans’ run to the men’s title.

“It has been a fantastic start to the LTA’s summer of grass court events.”

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