Grigor Dimitrov had another “hot shot” and Rafa another victory.
We are sure that the Bulgarian would have swapped these outcomes… but that’s not possible!
The match between these two was a close affair as Rafa did score only 8 points more than Grigor (89 vs 81). There have been a couple of key moments in the match and they were very close. The first was the 12th game of the 2nd set when Grigor broke Rafa after a couple of spectacular shots (below video). The second one was soon after when Grigor was “mentally satisfied” to concede a 2-0 lead to Rafa at the beginning of the decider. Finally the King of Clay broke Dimitrov once again to win the third set 6-2. Match Stats
From Rafa
Nadal was rather satisfied by his match to comment “I played a good level in the first set. Then his serve was working well in the beginning of the second. I was having trouble, so just wait for my moment. I started the third set trying to go another time inside the court and trying to have the control of the point from there, and I think I played a good third set in general.”
Next with Roger
Rafa will play the quarters against Roger Federer. Head to head is 20-10 for Rafa (22-10 with exhibitions and 6-2 for the Spaniard on hard courts).
Rafa commented “We played so many times for very important things. That makes every match very special. I hope to be ready for that.. we are sure he will be ready for that!!!
