For most of the world’s top players, the hastily arranged Australian Open warm-up tournaments have been little more than practice events.
But Daniel Evans is one player who might not forget his Murray River Open experience any time soon.
The 30-year-old Englishman and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime will both be chasing their first career title in Sunday’s final at Melbourne Park.
“It would be great to win it, especially in Australia,” Evans said.
“I really like being in Australia, it’s a pretty cool place, very similar to England.
“(Sunday) hopefully is another good day and some much-needed match practice for next week.
“It will be a very competitive one and hopefully it will put me in good stead to win some matches next week.”
Auger-Aliassime breezed past Corentin Moutet 6-1 6-2 to reach the Murray River Open final on Saturday, while Evans was similarly impressive in his 6-2 6-2 dismissal of Jeremy Chardy.
“It was good to get a quick match,” Evans said.
“I played pretty good at the end of last year and I’ve sort of carried it on into the start of this year.
“I’ve got into a bit of a rhythm this week. I had a difficult first round and probably didn’t play my best but I’m starting to feel pretty good now.”