SEOUL, Sept 27 — Fifth seed Dan Evans was knocked out of the Korea Open in the first round today, losing to Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets.

The world number 25 quickly conceded the first set 6-2, before putting up a fight in the second set to push the match to a 6-6 tiebreaker that world number 56 Nishioka eventually won.

The match lasted one hour and 49 minutes.

This is the fifth time that the two players have faced each other, Nishioka having won all five previous times.

British number two Evans entered the Korea Open after making it to the semifinals in San Diego last week, but failed to repeat that success in Seoul.

Nishioka is currently world number 56 and reached a career-high of number 48 in February 2020. He became the top Japanese player in June of 2021 and still holds that spot.

Nishioka will face either Taro Daniel or Emilio Gomez in the round of 16. — AFP