Alex De minor 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 ailing Dan Evans 6 - 3 674 6 - 0 6 - 0 on Saturday night in New York with his victory deor is the first Australian Open man to reach the fourth round of all for Grand Slam tournaments in a calendar year since Leighton huitt in 2004 he is also the third Australian player to reach the second week in New York this year alongside Alexa poin who defeated Novak jokovic on Friday night and Jordan Thompson his next opponent while the Manor'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 Riot on Match Point in his fourth round match at Wimbledon an injury that forced him to withdraw before his scheduled quarterfinal match with jokovic 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 sense not playing tennis and not being around tournaments domor was still moving with caution at the start of the tournament including opting not to slide on the hard court to ensure that he did 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 teab bre to level the match the physicality it takes to consistently put the ball past him inor 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 3 to0 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 played until the end I think the first thing I should show is a lot of respect to Dan said deor 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 evans's tournament had begun with an incredible first round performance as he defeated the 23rd seed Karen karanov after trailing 0 -4 15- 40 in the fifth set of what would become the longest match in the history of the aopen but the 5 hours 35 minutes Evans spent on court in his first round match took its toll although he was able to win efficiently in his second round match against Mariano navona the physicality required to battle with demor 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 a knee injury at Queens in difficult form that has sent him tumbling down the rankings Evans will still be around 170 in the ATP rankings after the S open and he will have no choice but to return to ATP Challenger events and Grand 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 de manure 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 Mato arnaldi the 30th seed on Saturday it is great that Aussie tennis we're just showing what we can do theor said we're putting ourselves in deep end 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 seat I GA s Tech comfortably reached the fourth round with a 6 - 4 6 - 2 win over Anastasia puchenko in men's fifth seed Daniel MF defeated Flavio cabal 6 - 3 6 - 4 6 - 3