Lexus Eastbourne Open 2025: Dan Evans & Billy Harris exit in quarter-finals
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It was another difficult day for our British stars with both Dan Evans and Billy Harris bowing out in their quarter-final matches at the Lexus Eastbourne Open.
Evans faced an American opponent for the second time in as many days but this time fell short to Jenson Brooksby 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 24 minutes.
That came after Harris missed out to Ugo Humbert 7-6(4), 6-1 in an hour and 34 minutes.
It was a challenging day of play on the South Coast, with blustery conditions posing difficulties for all players. Speaking on the match, Evans said, “(It was) really difficult conditions. Jenson played a good match, he was probably better than me today.
"It was a very quick turnaround (from his match against Tommy Paul yesterday) - it’s not easy but that’s tennis, you have to recover and get back out there."
Despite falling short in his quarter-final match, it's been a standout fortnight for Evans who clinched wins over Frances Tiafoe at the HSBC Championships and second seed and world No.13 Tommy Paul in Eastbourne.
As a result, Evans is feeling confident in his grass court form ahead of the upcoming Grand Slam at The Championships, Wimbledon where he’s been awarded a wild card to the main draw, “It’s all positive, it’s a bit of a downer what happened today there’s no doubt about that.
“In an hour or so I’ll reflect on this week, it’s been great - I’ve put my name back out there a bit. I’ve got a great event coming up, I say it all the time but if you lose here, you’re straight out and you get to play Wimbledon.
I’ve been here now nearly a week and it’s been great, I’ve enjoyed it and I’m just feeling positive leaving Eastbourne.
Evans was pinned back from the get-go in his match against the reigning Houston champion - saving a break point in the opening service game of the match before the American finally found the breakthrough in the third game.
Another break soon came for Brooksby who closed out a dominant opening set with a clinical hold to love.
The American - who entered the main draw as a lucky loser - dropped just six points in his service games throughout the match as he raced through them unscathed.
A controversial point midway through the second set looked to be Evans' undoing, as the world No.149 went on to claim the last three games on the bounce to book a spot in his ninth ATP Tour-level semi-final.
Meanwhile, Harris was bidding to reach the final four for the second successive year but fell short to world No.20 Humbert.
Both players struggled to figure out the conditions in the opening set but it was the Frenchman who looked to settle first having opened up a 5-3 lead. However, the British No.4 soon found his rhythm and went on to break Humbert as he stepped up to serve for the set to force a tie-break.
Harris dug deep to recover from a mini-break down to claw back level but the Frenchman went on to seal four out of the last five points to take the opening set.
From then on, all the momentum was swinging in Humbert's direction heading into the second set as he sprinted ahead to a 5-1 lead before breaking Harris for a fifth time to book his spot in the semi-finals.
Evans and Harris will now switch their focus to SW19 which gets underway on Monday 30 June.
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