Evan Hoyt Hoping For A Super Saturday In Glasgow After Seeing Off Top Seed

By Owen Morgan

Llanelli’s Evan Hoyt faces a super Saturday in Scotland after breezing into the singles semi-final and doubles final at the ITF World Tennis Tour $25,000 tournament in Glasgow.

The right-hander is scheduled to play Germany’s Jeremy Jahn in the last four of the singles in the morning at the Scotstoun Leisure Centre.

Then, in the afternoon, he partners fellow Brit Luke Johnson in the doubles final against American pairing Tom Fawcett and Alexander Ritschard.

Hoyt reached the singles semi with a brilliant performance to sweep aside Great Britain top 10 player Liam Broady in Friday’s quarter-final.

Broady, who last year represented Great Britain in the Davis Cup, was the number one seed going into the singles tournament in Glasgow.

But unseeded Hoyt took the first set 7-5 and then romped away to win the second 6-1 and clinch victory in straight sets.

Hoyt has only dropped one set on his way to the semis and that came in his first match against Tobias Simon.

The German took the opening set 7-6, before Hoyt hit back to level the match, winning the second set 6-3.

The deciding set was another close contest, with the Welshman eventually taking the honours 7-6, clinching the tie break to two points.

The round of 16 saw Hoyt chalk up an impressive straight sets win 6-4, 6-4 against the tournament’s number eight seed Tim Van Rijthoven, of the Netherlands.

Evan Hoyt will be looking for his third doubles title of the year.

Hoyt’s progress to the doubles final with Johnson got off to a sticky start when the pairing lost their first set against fellow Brits Scott Duncan and Connor Thomson 6-1.

Hoyt and Johnson hit back in fine style by winning the second set 6-2 to set up a tie-break which they won 10-6.

In the quarter-finals, the British pair faced China’s Xin Gao and Ukrainian Danylo Kalenichenko, who they dispatched 6-4,6-3.

This set up an all Great Britain semi-final against Jack Draper and George Loffhagen.

Hoyt and Johnson took the early initiative to take the first set 7-5, but their opponents hit back hard in the second to win 6-3 and square the match.

But the Welshman and his partner retained control in the tie breaker to comfortably clinch the decider 10-3.

Hoyt will be going for his third doubles title already this year having already won in Tunisia and last week in Barnstaple, also alongside Johnson. The pairing have now won their last seven matches and nine out of their last 10.