British number two Dan Evans reached only his fourth ATP Tour final courtesy of a straight-sets win over Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov in the Citi Open semi-finals.
The 33-year-old had overcome Alexander Shevchenko and second seed Frances Tiafoe in the space of a day without dropping a set before taking on Dimitrov, who had won three of the previous five meetings between the pair.
However, an inspired Evans marched on to his first ATP Tour final in two-and-a-half-years courtesy of a 6-3 7-6[4] victory, as a surplus of unforced errors from Dimitrov proved costly.
Evans beat away a couple of break points early doors before Dimitrov lost his serve in the seventh game, and another poor forehand from the Bulgarian in the ninth saw Evans clinch the first set with a break to love.
Dimitrov put pressure on Evans's serve early doors in the second set too, but the world number 30 held firm and made just one unforced error throughout, albeit while only hitting six winners compared to Dimitrov's 16.
However, the Bulgarian's high-risk high-reward strategy was by and large not paying off, and more mistakes allowed Evans to take control of the tie-breaker, where he completed the job with a final forehand at the net.
Evans won his first and only ATP Tour title to date at the Murray River Open in February 2021, and standing in the Briton's way of a second crown is the Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor, who stunned top seed Taylor Fritz 3-6 6-3 6-2 in the day's other semi-final.
Ben Knapton
