Australian Open 2016: Dan Evans reaches main draw

Evans was 772nd in the world rankings in May

Britain's Dan Evans has reached the Australian Open main draw for the first time in his career.

The 25-year-old from Birmingham beat Bjorn Fratangelo 7-5 4-6 6-0 in the third round of qualifying in Melbourne.

Evans, who will be one of six British singles players in the main draw, converted six of his nine break-point chances to knock out the American, who is ranked 54 places higher at 131.

He will face Spain's world number 19 Feliciano Lopez in the first round.

The first Grand Slam event of the year starts on Monday.

"It's nice," Evans said. "I worked hard in pre-season in La Manga. Even in the summer, when I was playing in England in the Futures, I was trying to work pretty hard. It was playing tennis and staying professional.

"I think that's the difference, just staying focused on court and staying more interested and focused on just playing tennis rather than all the other stuff."

After losing the second set, Evans, who was as low as 772 in the world rankings in May, came out more aggressively in the third.

"I tried to hold in the first game. It didn't feel like he was on top or any different from when I won the first set," he added.

"I tried to jump on him early and then carried on rolling from there. I'd beaten him twice and your belief can start to go when you're losing again to someone who has beaten you twice."