Taylor Fritz vs Joao Fonseca match suspended and players forced to return next day

Taylor Fritz's match against Joao Fonseca had to be suspended for the night at Eastbourne on Wednesday evening. With both players having won a set each, the decision was taken for the decisive third set to be delayed until Thursday afternoon due to bad lighting. The two players spoke with ATP supervisor Jerry Armstrong and mutually agreed that the best decision was for the match to be suspended.

"It's difficult to see already, and then in like two games..." Fonseca started before Fritz chimed in: "It's already getting pretty hard, what's the point of playing two games? There's no chance, it's going to be dark..." The umpire then announced to groans from the crowd: "Due to darkness, play is suspended."

Top seed Fritz won the opening set 6-3 in only 26 minutes but Brazilian Fonseca won the second in a tiebreak to draw level. The match will resume on Thursday, not before 12pm. The winner will face American Marcos Giron in the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Fritz was only two points from victory at 5-5 in the second set before Fonseca forced a tiebreak against the world No.5 courtesy of a volley. The 18-year-old, ranked a career-high 57th on the ATP Tour, is one of the most exciting young players in tennis right now.

Fonseca defeated Belgian Zizou Bergs in his first match at Eastbourne, including a bagel second set, to reach this stage. By contrast Fritz - who won an ATP 250 event in Stuttgart earlier this month - automatically progressed into the round of 16 as the first seed.

Elsewhere at Eastbourne on Wednesday, British No.5 Dan Evans pulled off a shock win over Fritz's fellow American Tommy Paul - 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The 35-year-old moves into the quarter-finals where he will face lucky loser, and another American, Jenson Brooksby.

Evans was emotional after his win and said: "I said to myself, enjoy it, this is what it's about and I played much better tennis. I played good tennis again and thanks again to the crowd, you got me through.

"I know I've done the work, once I got some confidence, I knew the work was in the bank. A good friend said, if you're ready and the doors open, you'll walk through it and if you're not you won't. There's been no truer word the past few weeks and hopefully there's more to come."

Evans is not the only British man into the last eight. Lucky loser Billy Harris is into the quarters for the second year running after beating Mattia Bellucci 6-3, 6-4. Fourth seed Ugo Humbert is up next for Harris, who said: "I'm definitely happy with how I played.

"I managed to get that first break, which against someone like Bellucci is important as he plays well when he's got the rhythm. Played a good solid match throughout and I'm very happy. To go from lucky loser to winning a few matches, everything is a bonus."

Also tomorrow, Czech third seed Jakub Mensik faces Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the sixth seed. Mensik beat Reilly Opelka earlier today while Davidovich got the better of James Duckworth. All four quarter-finals will be played on Thursday.