Dan Evans rallied from the depth of a demoralising opening set loss to turn the tables on Tommy Paul for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win into the final four of the ATP Montreal Masters on Friday.
The Brit ranked 39th advanced in his second match point against a good friend on the Tour after two and a quarter hours.
Evans was seriously short on winners – only 15 – while American Paul struck 40.
The possibility of an all-British semi-final at the Masters 1000 level evaporated as experienced Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta beat young gun Jack Draper 7-6(4), 6-1 in their quarter-final which finished late in the evening.
Evans will be competing in his second Masters semi-final.
“I had to try and hang in, get a few scraps off of him,” he said of his struggle with Paul. “If he made errors, take advantage, he was too good in the first set.
“You start to wonder if you can get into the match, so when I got the chance I took it to him.
“I was fired up – we had a good battle.”
