Alex the Menor continued his impressive return to form after being sidelined with injury throughout the summer as he returned to the fourth round of the US Open by outlasting and nailing Dan Evans 63 674 6060 on Saturday night in New York with his victory deor is the first Australian Open man to reach the fourth round of all four grand slam tournaments in a calendar year since Leon H in 2004 he is also the third Australian player to reach the second week in New York this year alongside Alexi poperin who defeated Novak jakovic on Friday night and Jordan Thompson his next opponent while de Minor's Ambitions are greater than simply reaching the second week this is a particularly impressive result considering the testing summer he has endured deor had not competed since he injured his hip pright on Match Point in his fourth round match at Wimbledon an injury that forced him to withdraw before his scheduled quinal match with chakavak and had sidelined him until the US Open he started the tournament with significant uncertainty around his hip It's Tricky obviously not playing tennis not competing he said there's that aspect of it but it was quite draining mentally it was not an easy time for me a lot of repeatedly feeling like I'm walking into a wall and just not getting better so it was tough in that Sensei not playing tennis and not being around tournaments deor was still moving with caution at the start of the tournament including opting not to slide on the hardc court to ensure that he did not further damage his vulnerable hip but he has looked increasingly comfortable with every match and against Evans he was sharp from the beginning he managed Evans tricky slice well and dictated many of the exchanges by taking the ball early and closing down the net although Evans recovered well in the second set playing an excellent tie break to level the match the physicality it takes to consistently put the ball pass dondor left its mark on the 34-year-old by the start of the third set Evans was struggling badly he took a medical timeout for his hip at 30-0 in the set and his condition gradually worsened until he could barely move in the fourth set despite being hobbled for a significant amount of time Evans refused to retire and play it until the end I think the first thing I should show is a lot of respect to Dan said the minor he's the ultimate competitor he could have easily pulled out the body was obviously not feeling well but he stayed out there and tried his best so I really appreciated it aans tournament had begun with an incredible first round performance as he defeated the 23rd seed Karan kochanov after trailing 04 1540 in the fifth set of what would become the longest match in the history of the US Open but the 5 hours 35 minutes 7 spent on court in his first round match took its toll although he was able to win efficiently in his second round match against Marano n the physicality required to battle with dor pushed him over the edge despite his defeat this was a much needed tournament for the Britain he had arrived in New York after an incredibly difficult year that has seen him struggle with multiple significant injuries most recently an KN injury at queens and difficult form that has sent him tumbling down the rankings Evans will still be around 170 in the ATP rankings after the Uso and he will have no choice but to return to ATP Challenger events and Grant slam qualifying but his performances have shown him that he can still compete at a high level a bit of me is wounded of course said Evans I fancied my chances against demon demor but it wasn't to be the draw was nice and that's what I've waited for for a long time to see something like that but I wasn't good enough I'll sleep well for probably the next four or 5 days and I'll be over that pretty quick it's been an amazing week I came to America with no expectations and a lot of doubt and I left with a lot of clarity that I can still do it at the higher level not quite the top level but the higher level for deor a fourth round battle with his good friend Thompson is next on Monday Thompson toppled Mateo arnaldi the 30th seed on Saturday it is great that aie tennis we're just showing what we can do Deora said we're putting ourselves in deep of tournaments and look it's a good problem to have it's exciting we've grown up together well I've grown up with him and we've played many times I'm expecting an absolute battle on Saturday night the top SE D votc comfortably reached the fourth round with a 64 62 win over Anastasia pav chinova and man's fifth seed on El medev defeated Flavio kly 63 64 6