Dan Evans' US Open rival Alex de Minaur 'not feeling 100%' as Brit looks to capitalise

Dan Evans' next opponent at the US Open has revealed he is only “80-85%” fit because of the hip injury which forced him out of Wimbledon.

Aussie Alex de Minaur - Katie Boulter’s boyfriend - feared he would have to pull out of the last Grand Slam of the season after the first round.

The World No.10 saw off Finland’s Otto Virtanen yesterday in straight sets but admitted he was still struggling with the cartilage tear in his hip which saw him pull out of his SW19 quarter-final with Novak Djokovic last month. He also missed the Olympics.

“Sometimes, I wake up feeling better, some days I wake up a little bit worse,” said the Aussie. “Sometimes during the match I feel more confident than others.

“It's hard to put a percentage on it because there's part of my game that is compromised due to me not feeling 100%, so I've got to change some aspects of my game, which at times gives me making maybe more errors as I normally would, or not feeling as confident or being aggressive in certain moments, having that forward motion around the court.

"It's super hard for me, the actual concept of not trying to retrieve every single ball that's out there on the court, it is tough. If I had to say, I'm 80-85% fit, hopefully trending upwards.”

Evans’ section of the draw has opened up following the shock defeat of Carlos Alcaraz and none of the eight men left - including British No.1 Jack Draper - have ever reached a Grand Slam semi-final.

The British No.5 won the longest match in US Open history in the first round but made shorter work of his second round tie when he beat Argentine baseliner Mariano Navone in straight sets. “It was a perfect match in game styles for me,” he said.

Evans, who had six hours of physio the day before his second round win, has a 3-0 winning record against De Minaur.