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Great Britain's Dan Evans insisted he was "just grateful" after surviving a tough Fabio Fognini clash in Dubai. Evans, ranked at No. 37 in the world, sent No. 4 seed Fognini packing out of Dubai after edging out the Italian 3-6 6-4 7-5.
It was the first meeting between the two and the matches lasted two hours and 39 minutes. "It's great to get through the tight ones, especially against someone as good as Fabio. I'm just grateful to come through... the best part of my game at the minute is just forgetting it [any setbacks] and getting on with the next point," Evans said in his on-court interview, per George Bellshaw of Metro UK.
World No. 11 Fognini appeared to be cruising towards a straight-set win as he was up by a set and a break. But Evans refused to quit as he claimed back-to-back breaks to overturn the second set deficit and force a decider.
The Briton then twice recovered from a break down in the third set before breaking Fognini in the 12th game to complete a comeback win. Evans plays next against France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
• Jo-Wilfried Tsonga details how Fabio Fognini uses his antics to his advantage• Watch: Fabio Fognini gets brutally honest on if he ever cheated on exam• Italian tennis CEO Angelo Binaghi: "Fabio Fognini proved to be very intelligent"• Watch: Fabio Fognini takes shot at Filippo Volandri, copies Novak Djokovic phone act• Filippo Volandri rips Fabio Fognini: "Ungrateful words"• Fabio Fognini said Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune will dominate
