Watch: Dan Evans shares a banana with Andrey Rublev before crashing out of Australian Open

Before Saturday’s meeting with Dan Evans, fifth seed Andrey Rublev predicted that the decisive factor in this match would be “If I will start to go crazy or not”. He also credited Evans with “knowing how to play mental games to get into your head”.

But when it came to the match itself, Evans was perhaps too generous and friendly for his own good. One of the talking points was the banana that he threw to Rublev at an early change of ends, thus helping his rival out with a much-needed sugar boost.

As it happened, a fortified Rublev promptly broke serve for the first time, and Evans began a slide that saw him bundled out of the Australian Open in just 2hr 9min. The scoreline was chastening: 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

Evans’s caring and sharing attitude was a little out of character for a man who likes to get in his opponents’ faces. During his first-round match against Facundo Bagnis, for instance, he had a go at one of Bagnis’s camp followers for saying “Come on” at what he considered to be an inappropriate moment.

But then, as Evans admitted afterwards, “I quite like him [Rublev], so I shared with him. That was about it. They only brought two. I donated one of mine so he could have one.” Would he have been so considerate with an opponent he disliked? “No, no.”

Evans was philosophical afterwards, saying “Andrey was too good. I was hanging around to see if hopefully he would blow up a bit, but he didn't today. He was solid off the ground. If he plays like that and sticks to that, he has a decent chance.”

Over six previous encounters between these two, the honours had been even, despite Rublev’s higher ranking and greater firepower. But the very fact that they have met so often probably worked in Rublev’s favour.

For one thing, Rublev held it together mentally against an opponent who teases you with what the players call “junk” (slow slices and dinks). For another, he also “changed his game to how he played me a few times before” – in Evans’s words – by targeting Evans’s weaker backhand wing. His tally of 60 winners and just 22 unforced errors made this one of the cleanest performances of the whole tournament.

Murray is now the 'Last Briton Standing'

Asked about the fruit-sharing during his on-court interview, Rublev replied “Dan asked for two bananas earlier and he had two. He just gave me one. Okay, I take it. And I caught it. He helped me with some energy for sure. I won an extra two games because I ate a banana.”

Later, during his press conference, he added “It was just a nice and fun moment between us. Like he said, we have a great relationship between each other.”

Evans was the second British male to fall in the third round after Cameron Norrie on Friday afternoon. Their joint exits left 35-year-old Andy Murray as the “LBS” – or Last Briton Standing.

The last time Murray earned this honour at a grand-slam tournament was during his run to the French Open semi-finals in 2017. This was also the last tournament he played with a functioning and organic right hip.