‘Rocket Man’ fails to give Evans lift-off at Australian Open

Melbourne: Beaten 24th seed Dan Evans said he had been playing pretty well in his Australian Open third-round clash today - until they turned off Elton John.

The last Briton standing in singles in Melbourne was well beaten 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 by Canadian 21-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The first set of the match on John Cain Arena was played out against the backdrop of some music booming out from a band at a sweltering Melbourne Park.

But rather than put him off, Evans said he’d rather enjoyed it.

'Best part of the match'

“I don’t know what that was, but actually, they should have kept it on, I played better with it on,” the 31-year-old said, raising a smile despite being well beaten.

“I mean, it was probably the best part of the match, listening to that, I think ‘Rocket Man’ by Elton John.”

Evans was not so amused with some of the other music selections.

“There was some bad notes being knocked out,” he said, adding with a more serious tone: “But no, it wasn’t my best day and just one to put away.”