What a match! Grigor shows once again that he is the real deal.
After losing a close match in Monte-Carlo against Rafa, Grigor didn’t want to miss ths opportunity to do something very very special. The all match was a gruesome battle.
In the first set the Bulgarian had to save 3 set points before win the tiebreak at 6. In the second set both players had to cope with physical problems. When he was 2-4 down, Nole slipped on the baseline to ask a long medical time-out to tape his already injured ankle. Coming back from that Nole broke Dimitrov.
Grigor had also some problems when he was cramping on a 5-5 scoreline. Fortunately he got over it to get to the tiebreak when Nole had to save a match point when he was 6-7 down with a gutsy serve and volley.
In the third set Grigor got an early break to lead 2-0… that was enough to win this incredible match.
At the end Dimitrov won 129 points vs. Nole’s 127.
From Grigor
“Of course this has been what I’ve been working for, to play matches like that, and why not win them?” Dimitrov commented . “Today was one of these days that I felt good on court. I felt I had enough hours of practice in the weeks before. I felt that I could actually hang with Novak the whole match. That’s the whole purpose of getting ready for big events and eventually for big matches.”
“It’s a great win for me. Good day at the office. I know it’s a big thing, of course. But you got to stay on the ground. Hopefully you’re going to face these guys for years. You never know how it’s going to be next time… You got to be ready and try to work at it every day and see it as just another test to do and something exciting to look forward.” he added
Next vs. Wawrinka or Giraldo.
Grigor will play the next match against Wawrinka or Giraldo. Fortunately for him that will happen after a day off to recover some energy.
