Dan Evans was accused of using the ‘dark arts’ to make Wimbledon opponent Jay Clarke ‘salty’ during a 6-1 7-5 6-2 win on Tuesday. Clarke grew increasingly frustrated during a tense second set and complained to the chair umpire about Evans’ conduct between serves.

After Evans romped to a 6-1 first set, the match was entering a crucial moment in the second, with the pair tied at five games all and Evans pushing for a break. After Clarke went long, Evans let out a loud roar as he moved a big step closer towards cementing his first-round lead on Court 12.

As Clarke complained to the umpire about Evans ‘walking to the side and then walking back’ and asked ‘is that normal?’, former British tennis pro Dominic Inglot offered his insight on BBC co-commentary duties.

He said: “Dan Evans is a master of the dark arts, let’s say, and he’s used them extremely well there. You could say Jay Clarke is right, but on the flip side he has to be mentally tougher than that. He can’t be falling for those little tricks. A few extra seconds is not the end of the world. Maybe a little bit salty there after getting broken.”

Evans hit a sublime forehand winner only minutes later to hold serve and take the second set. Clarke took that as his cue to fire more complaints at the umpire, saying: “I’d rather you just tell me that’s not normal, because it’s not.”

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BBC commentator Andrew Cotter chimed in: “Jay Clarke, he’s clearly not let that go. He’s lost the set, hugely frustrating. He’s still festering over that set. Dan Evans played well enough but he psyched Jake Clarke out and got in his head a little bit.”

As both players headed for a bathroom break, Cotter continued: “What that set demonstrated perfectly is that tennis is about psychology when you’re taking on an opponent.

“Dan Evans in the bathroom will be having a little chuckle to himself. I think he’s enjoying it even more so knowing that Jay Clarke was not enjoying that particular moment. Living rent free, is the expression.”

Evans continued putting Clarke to the sword in the third set, taking control early on and dominating throughout. There was a moment Clarke would rather forget towards the end of the match as he tried a cheeky underarm serve which looped unconvincingly into the net, with Evans stepping up to serve out for a spot against Novak Djokovic or Alexandre Muller in the second round shortly afterwards.

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