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Read & Watch: Dimitrov Advances After Epic 35-Shot Match Point
Spoiler:
Bulgarian looks to ignite his 2018 on the hard courts
“Sometimes one, two, three matches, it can really turn it around for you again. If you stay compact, stay smart and do the right things you just never known when the tables might turn for you.”
Grigor Dimitrov said that before his Rogers Cup began on Tuesday, but the Bulgarian, who was in the midst of a 2-6 stretch, hopes those words turn out to be prescient for him this North American hard-court swing.
The World No. 5 came back to beat Spain's Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(5) in Toronto. Their second-round match was suspended because of rain at 4-4 in the third set for two and a half hours.
But Dimitrov came out ready to put his recent past with Verdasco behind him. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion saw a match point come and go on Verdasco's serve at 4-5, 30/40 when the Bulgarian netted a backhand. But Dimitrov stayed on it and won an epic 35-shot match point.
Watch Dimitrov's Epic 35-Shot Match Point
The two had met twice earlier this year, with Verdasco winning both – a three-setter at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and a straight-sets win at Roland Garros.
But Dimitrov, who hasn't reached a quarter-final since April at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, evened their FedEx ATP Head2Head series at 3-3. He will next meet #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe or Canadian Milos Raonic.
Tiafoe earned his 23rd match win of the season by beating Roland Garros semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato of Italy 7-6(3), 6-1. The American saved eight of nine break points to beat No. 21 Cecchinato, who is in 12th place in the ATP Race To London.
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“Solid performance for me. I got broken, a slow start, but I competed well, got the break back, played a pretty good match overall, held all the way through, pretty one-sided in the breaker. Second set was pretty one-sided all the way through, so I was pretty comfortable,” said Tiafoe, who won his maiden ATP World Tour title in February at the Delray Beach Open.
“[My confidence is] pretty high. I’ve won a lot of matches this year... definitely the most I’ve ever won at the ATP [level]. This has been one of the best years of my life... I can beat anyone.”
ATP Race To Milan
The 20-year-old right-hander is currently in fifth place in the ATP Race To Milan, which will determine seven of the eight players who qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November in Milan. The eighth spot will be reserved for the winner of an all-Italian qualifier tournament to be held just prior to the prestigious 21-and-under event. Last year, Tiafoe missed making his Milan debut by one place.
“I think I’ve got some pretty good length between the guys under me, so I’m feeling pretty good that I’ll make it. I missed it by one last year, so that hurt,” Tiafoe said.
Robin Haase, 2017 semi-finalist (l. to Federer), dismissed Japan's Kei Nishikori 7-5, 6-1. Haase dominated on serve, winning 57 per cent of his second-serve points and saving four of five break points. The Dutchman will next meet third seed Juan Martin del Potro.
Another Match, Another Third-Set Tie-Break Win For Dimitrov
Spoiler:
Reigning Nitto ATP Finals champ to face fourth seed Anderson next
Reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov reached his first quarter-final since April on Thursday, outlasting #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(4) at the Rogers Cup.
If winning breeds confidence, Dimitrov will take a lot out of winning two consecutive third-set tie-breaks. In the second round, the fifth seed converted match point in a deciding tie-break on an epic 35-shot rally against Fernando Verdasco, who had beaten him twice this year. And against Tiafoe, the Bulgarian rallied to win the final five points of the match.
Perhaps those performances signify the change of momentum in the World No. 5's season. Dimitrov arrived in Toronto having won just three of his previous nine matches. But now, he is as deep as he has been at a tournament since the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where he lost in the last eight against Pablo Carreno Busta.
“I was really not focusing on winning or losing. I was just [wanting] to build up and start playing good tennis and start building the right habits. And eventually, if you do all these things right, you win. And I think those days were just that for me,” Dimitrov said.
“Clearly I'm not playing my best tennis, but I'm finding a way and managing to go through those matches, and I think I'm improving. With each game, with each point that I play, I feel more confident, more stable on the court, and everything falls into its place. So hopefully that's a great step forward for me.”
Tennis Radio
The 27-year-old is currently 18th in the ATP Race To London with 1,420 points. The Rogers Cup is a perfect event for Dimitrov to find his form, with the winner receiving 1,000 points.
Dimitrov will next face fourth seed Kevin Anderson, who beat Belarusian Ilya Ivashka 7-5, 6-3 in one hour, 29 minutes. Dimitrov has won six of his seven FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Anderson.
It looked like Dimitrov, an eight-time ATP World Tour champion, was in jeopardy of making it that far, though. Tiafoe immediately broke at love to begin the third set thanks to a return that was just inside the baseline. And despite double faulting to allow Dimitrov to break back, Tiafoe held two break points at 5-5. The veteran found some of his best serving when he needed it, though, hitting an ace and then another big first serve to escape trouble.
“There was quite a bit of pressure on myself having to come back and serve from a break point down. So I'm trying to channel my way in a very positive way and just try to feed off that,” Dimitrov said. “I know those kind of things are very tricky. But I've been on tour for so long... everything that comes along that is negative or something to jump, like a hurdle or whatever, I know that I'm able to turn that as a positive thing.”
Anderson
Dimitrov will face another stiff test against Anderson, despite their lopsided rivalry. The South African is playing the best tennis of his life, reaching his second Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. The 32-year-old is into the Rogers Cup quarter-finals for the third consecutive year and the fourth time in five years. He has not made the last four in any of those tournaments.
Anderson has also never been in such good form. One year ago, he was World No. 32. Last month, he cracked the Top 5 for the first time. Anderson hit 15 aces and won 86 per cent of first-serve points to beat Ivashka, who had not won a Masters 1000 match before this event.
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“He's been playing unbelievable throughout the whole year... Given the facts and the stats right now, for sure he's the favourite,” Dimitrov said. “But as I said, I'm very determined to just keep on fighting and keep on building from my game. I mean, this is what I want. I want to be here.”
Did You Know?
Dimitrov is now 18-9 in deciding tie-breaks at tour-level, including 3-0 this season. He saved two match points before beating Malek Jaziri in Barcelona.
Puchar Lavera: drużyna Europy obroniła tytuł. Roger Federer i Alexander Zverev przypieczętowali wygraną
Spoiler:
Drużyna Europy pokonała w Chicago zespół Reszty Świata 13:8 i po raz drugi sięgnęła po Puchar Lavera. Trzecia edycja tych zawodów odbędzie się w przyszłym roku w Genewie.
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24 Września 2018, 11:05
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Getty Images / Clive Brunskill / Na zdjęciu: drużyna Europy wygrała Puchar Lavera w 2018 roku
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ATP Metz: Matthias Bachinger zatrzymany przez Gillesa Simona. Francuz wyrównał rekord triumfów w stolicy Lotaryngii
Po dwóch dniach zmagań w Chicago było 7:5 dla gości, dlatego zespół Reszty Świata potrzebował trzech wygranych w czterech meczach, aby sięgnąć po tytuł. Gospodarze zaczęli bardzo dobrze, bowiem amerykański debel John Isner i Jack Sock wygrał z Rogerem Federerem i Alexandrem Zverevem 4:6, 7:6(2), 11-9.
Ekipa Reszty Świata prowadziła wówczas po raz pierwszy w całym spotkaniu (8:7), ale teraz do walki przystąpili singliści. Najpierw zagrali Isner i Federer. Amerykanin miał w drugim secie trzy piłki meczowe, lecz nie wykorzystał żadnej z nich. Szwajcar wygrał drugą partię po tie breaku, a następnie był lepszy w mistrzowskim tie breaku i to on wygrał cały pojedynek 6:7(5), 7:6(6), 10-7.
REKLAMA
Europa znów prowadziła i wtedy na kort wyszedł Zverev. Młody Niemiec pokonał Kevina Andersona 6:7(3), 7:5, 10-7, dając drużynie zwycięstwo 13:8. Gdyby tenisista z Hamburga przegrał z Afrykanerem, to o wygranej zadecydowałby pojedynek Nicka Kyrgiosa z Novaka Djokovicia. Serb nie musiał jednak wychodzić do meczu z Australijczykiem i tym samym nie odniósł żadnego zwycięstwa w tegorocznym Pucharze Lavera. Wcześniej przegrał razem z Federerem debla oraz uległ w singlu Andersonowi.
Trzecia edycja Pucharu Lavera odbędzie się w dniach 20-22 września 2019 roku w Genewie. W sezonie 2020 tenisiści nie zagrają ze względu na igrzyska olimpijskie.
Puchar Lavera, Chicago (USA)
kort twardy w hali
piątek-niedziela, 21-23 września
Grigor Dimitrov
Verdasco digs deep to beat Monfils
Third seed and 2016 finalist Grigor Dimitrov started his China Open campaign with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over American lucky loser Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday in 83 minutes. The Bulgarian, who is hoping to finish the season strongly, recorded his 15th hard-court match win of 2018 (23-16 overall) and will now prepare to face Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic in the second round.
“It's never easy when you've never played against a guy,” said Dimitrov. “So I think it took me quite a few games to kind of get in a rhythm, see what kind of game plan he had [and] just try to get comfortable in the match. I think the first set was obviously the tough set. After that, I kind of picked up my pace a little bit more, I started playing a little bit more aggressive. I think, also, I was moving well.”
Dimitrov opened a 5-2 lead in the first set, but had his serve broken in the ninth game. He converted his fourth set point opportunity to break Sandgren, a late replacement for Ryan Harrison, for the 43-minute opener and then took firm control by winning the first three games of the second set. Harrison pulled out prior to the match due to a back injury.
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Spain’s Fernando Verdasco is one win from reaching the Beijing quarter-finals for the third time (2009 and 2011) after scraping past Gael Monfils, the Frenchman making his debut at the tournament, 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(5) in two hours and 23 minutes. Verdasco recovered from 0/4 down in the deciding set tie-break.
Verdasco now meets Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili, who defeated sixth-seeded American Jack Sock 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-2 in two hours and 34 minutes.
Former World No. 1 joins Dimitrov's team at the season's final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event
Former World No. 1 Andre Agassi will help coach Grigor Dimitrov at this week's Rolex Paris Masters. Agassi flew out early Saturday afternoon and joined Dimitrov on Sunday at the season's final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.
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Backhand chats with @AndreAgassi and @GrigorDimitrov #RolexParisMasters
10:42 AM - Oct 28, 2018
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This is at least the second time this year the two have worked together. They were seen practising in July at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta.
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Spotted around Georgia Tech: Olympic Gold Medalist and Grand Slam Champion @AndreAgassi.
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Dani Vallverdu, Dimitrov's coach since mid-2016, is also in Paris. Last year, Vallverdu guided Dimitrov to his best season yet. The Bulgarian won his first Masters 1000 event (Cincinnati) and the biggest title of his career at the Nitto ATP Finals in London. Dimitrov finished 2017 at No. 3 in the ATP Rankings.
Taming The Talent: Why Dimitrov, Vallverdu Make A Good Match
But the 27-year-old Dimitrov has struggled to back up his breakthrough season. After four titles last year, Dimitrov has reached only one final this year, losing to Roger Federer in Rotterdam. Dimitrov is in 22nd place in the ATP Race To London and will not be making a return trip to The O2.
Agassi worked with Novak Djokovic for 11 months, from May 2017 until April 2018, when the two agreed to end their partnership.