Dimitrov saves 2 MPs, wins fight against Mathieu

Grigor Dimitrov had a rough start in Rotterdam.

The seed no.5 saved 2 match points when he was 4-6 4-5 against a good Paul-Henri Mathieu to win the second set at the breaker. The Frenchman imploded in the 3^rd set and eventually Grigor won with the final score of 4-6 7-6 (2) 6-2.

Controversy

There was a huge controversy after the first point of tie-break. In fact, Grigor missed a shot on Mathieu’s return (on the line), but a fraction after that the ball was wrongly called out. Mathieu challenged the call and he was right, so the ball was in and given the fact that ball was called out after Grigor missed the shot, the point should have been awarded to Mathieu. The chair umpire decided for replaying and the Bulgarian won that point.

Mathieu didn’t go over it to exchange words with Dimitrov even after the match was over. The Frenchman was right, but it was very weak for him to completely lose the focus (and the match) because of that episode.

Next vs. Muller

Grigor will play Gilles Muller in the second round. Head to head is 1-0 for Grigor.