British number one Dan Evans produced a superb fightback to beat third seed Karen Khachanov 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 and reach the European Open semi-finals.
Evans, 30, faced match point in the second set but went on to take the tie-break after a hotly disputed line call.
Early in the deciding set he broke Russian world number 17 Khachanov, before completing victory in two hours 40 minutes.
Evans will face France’s Ugo Humbert in the last four in Antwerp on Saturday.
Having been a set and a break of serve up, Khachanov was outraged when an Evans forehand was not called out, which gave Evans set point in a tense tie-break.
With no Hawk-Eye technology, Khachanov was reliant on umpire Adel Nour to overrule the line judge and was incensed when that did not materialise.
He stormed over to the umpire’s chair and said: “It’s a joke, it’s a joke. Everyone can see it was out.
“What are you doing here? What are you doing here? You don’t need to be here.”
World number 35 Evans took the second set on the next point as Khachanov kicked the net and then hit the umpire’s chair with his racket, earning a code violation.
Britons Kyle Edmund and Andy Murray won the European Open in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
Source link
