Seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov beat Juan Martin Del Potro for the first time in six meetings as he advanced to the last eight in Cincinnati with a 6-3 7-5 victory.
The Bulgarian started the better of the two players as he was serving effectively and clearly had a gameplan as he raced to a 3-0 lead. Del Potro’s 33% of first serves was simply not good enough in the early stages as he struggled against his athletic opponent. Despite opportunities being created from the tall Argentinian, Dimitrov used his backhand to great effect as he held serve to grab the first set 6-3 in 40 minutes.
The second set saw Del Potro up his game and some massive forehands saw him ease to a 3-0 lead. It was now the Bulgarian’s turn to suffer on serve as double faults started to creep into his game. However Dimitrov pounced on an ill Juan Martin Del Potro as he broke back in the seventh game for 3-4. The Bulgarian then saved three set points to level the set at 5-5 in the tenth game. After that Del Potro was vulnerable and Dimitrov pounced to win the last two games of the match to seal victory in 1 hour and 40 minutes.
After the match Dimitrov acknowledged his high level of performance, ‘He’s a tricky opponent… a super-experienced player, I definitely had to stay away a little bit from that forehand. I knew if I keep the ball low on his backhand side and just kind of work my way into the court, it would have been the right thing to do.I think I did this thing very, very well today. The short slice really made him very uncomfortable, and he was giving me a lot of short balls, so I could start moving him with my forehand. It was also a bit of a mind game, because we know our game pretty well.’
A golden opportunity awaits Dimitrov in the last eight as he will face World number 46 Yuichi Sugita on Friday. Sugita beat big hitting Russian Karen Khachanov 6-7(0) 6-3 6-3 as he sealed victory in two hours. He saved three out of four break points to complete his 37th win of the season.
In the other two third round matches so far, David Ferrer won the all Spanish affair as he defeated 11th seed Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4 6-4. The win means it’s Ferrer’s first masters 1000 Quarter-Final since Paris in 2015, he will now play Dominic Thiem or Adrian Mannarino in the last eight. Jared Donaldson is also into the last eight as he beat unpredictable Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4 7-6(4). It will be the American’s first Quarter-Final at this level and will now play another American in John Isner or Frances Tiafoe.
