Dan Evans exits on the same day as Andy Murray with defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Evans saw his challenge come to an end but will leave Melbourne knowing he can compete with the sport's elite
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Your support makes all the difference.Dan Evans' fairytale run at the Australian Open came to an end after the British number three was beaten by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Evans knocked out world number seven Marin Cilic and then Bernard Tomic to reach his first grand slam fourth round but Tsonga proved a step too far, the Frenchman sealing a 6-7 (4/7) 6-2 6-4 6-4 victory.
Despite defeat, Evans is set to climb from 51st to 45th in the world rankings and leaves Melbourne knowing he can compete with the elite.
Tsonga, the 12th seed, goes through to face US Open champion Stan Wawrinka for a place in the semi-finals.
It means Britain has no players left in the men's draw, with Evans' defeat on Hisense Arena coming just over an hour after Andy Murray tumbled out to Mischa Zverev on Rod Laver Arena 200 metres away.
Johanna Konta is now the only British representative in the singles. She will play Ekaterina Makarova in the last 16 of the women's tournament on Monday.
Evans, who has earned 220,000 Australian dollars (£134,000) for his results here, now turns his attention to Britain's Davis Cup tie against Canada in two weeks' time.
The 26-year-old simply fell victim to Tsonga's superior strength of hitting, the 31-year-old unleashing 59 winners and 17 aces in a clinical display of power-tennis.
"He played good at the start, he had nothing to lose so it was difficult for me," Tsonga said on court afterwards.
"He was taking the ball really early but after that I went over him and I finished strong. I'm really happy to go through."
The opening set was tight, both players earning break points in the early stages but failing to convert and it had to be settled in a tie-break.
Evans had won all three of his previous shoot-outs in this tournament and he made it four from four, helped by a sloppy Tsonga forehand midway through.
The Frenchman, however, rolled through the gears in the second set, breaking once, with his 10th chance of the match, and then again before serving out to level up.
Tsonga now had the momentum and a break in the opening game of the third was enough to seal a two sets to one lead.
He broke again at the start of the fourth and while Evans had a sniff at 3-2, 0-30, two cute Tsonga volleys maintained the Frenchman's charge.
When a booming forehand sailed down his right flank, Evans could only shake his head and toss his racket into the air.
He held serve thereafter, making Tsonga serve it out, but any pressure was quickly eased by two aces to bring up three match points.
Evans relented at the first time of asking as his forehand volley drifted wide and brought his excellent tournament to an end in just under three hours.
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