Dan Evans defeats Wolverhampton's Henry Searle in West Midlands battle at Nottingham Open

British no.3 Evans – the world No.62 – needed two tiebreaks to make it through to the quarter-finals of the men’s Challenger event.

And after he was full of praise for Searle, who is set to rise into the world’s top 600 for the first time when the next set of rankings are released on Monday.

“He’s obviously very good,” said Evans of Searle. “I’m just happy to come through to be honest – it’s not the draw I wanted to see when I saw I was next to his name.”

Top seed Cameron Norrie faces fellow Brit Jack Pinnington Jones today for a place in the quarter-finals.

But he could lose his spot as British No.1 Jack Draper, who is on course to dethrone him after battling past Marcos Giron to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Stuttgart Open.

Meanwhile, Katie Boulter kept her dream of a second successive title at her home event firmly alive after breezing into the quarter-finals of the women’s draw of the Rothesay Open in Nottingham – a WTA250 event, a level higher than the men’s tournament.

Victory last year kick-started an impressive year which has seen her surge into the world’s top 30.

And she is looking good again on home turf after easing past Rebecca Marino 6-4 6-3 to book a quarter-final spot.

Boulter, from nearby Leicester, used to train at the Nottingham Tennis Centre so is revelling in being able to play her best tennis here.

“I have some of my childhood memories here so I always get that warm fuzzy feeling every time I come out here,” she said. “Just being back where it started reminds me how far I have come and I just keep working hard every day and see what happens. I am out here enjoying myself on the Nottingham courts and I don’t take that for granted.

“It is going to take some time to be at my best, I am realistic with that, it is about getting some momentum and getting to the last weeks of the grass court season and playing my best stuff there. But I wouldn’t mind playing my best stuff here either. I’ll take it one match at a time and see how we go.”

Emma Raducanu will aim to book her quarter-final spot when she takes on Daria Snigur today, while Fran Jones also carries British hopes against Ashlyn Krueger.

Rafael Nadal is set to miss Wimbledon to prepare for the Olympic Games, where he will team up with Carlos Alcaraz in a dream doubles partnership.

The expected news was confirmed by Spain’s Olympic team captain, David Ferrer, on Wednesday, with Nadal having said last month that it would not be good for his body to switch surfaces from clay to grass.

With Nadal expected to retire at some point this year, it appears his final match at Wimbledon will be a quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz in 2022, following which he withdrew from the tournament because of an abdominal injury.