Grigor Dimitrov has suffered a setback in his preparations for next week’s US Open after he was forced to retire from his second round match against Dominic Thiem in Winston-Salem.
The top seed looked to be in top shape as he raced through the opening set without dropping a game in just 25 minutes. However, in the second set the Bulgarian started to shorten his points played and was seen by medical staff. Down 2-4, Dimitrov then decided to retire from the match due to dizziness.
“The most important [thing] today is that Grigor gets well very soon again,” atptour.com quoted Thiem as saying afterwards. “The match is not the priority; that’s never the way I want to win a match, especially against Grigor.”
Thiem, who has a wildcard to play in next week’s New York major, is currently ranked outside the world’s top 200 following a lengthy absence from the Tour due to a wrist injury. In his first round match, the Austrian ousted JJ Wolf in a marathon encounter where he saved two match points.
“Playing-wise it was very tough in the first set,” Thiem said of his latest performance. “I had a good start actually, and then he somehow broke and it was really difficult.
“I could pick up a little bit my intensity better [in the second set]. Yesterday was really tough, over three hours. I finished late, I got to bed at 3:30 and then it was not easy to get the intensity straight up again. It’s very humid, you lose a lot of liquid here, a lot of sweat. So that’s tough and I was not able to have my intensity straight away, but in the second set it got a little bit better.”
The former world No.3 will next play British sensation Jack Draper who continues to rise in the rankings. Draper started the year ranked 265th and is now at a career-high of No.55. This season he has won four Challenger titles and defeated top 10 player Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Canadian Open. Draper sealed his place in the last eight at Winston-Salem by defeating Italian veteran Fabio Fognini 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
Second seed Botic van de Zandschulp secured his place in the last 16 by winning his all-Dutch encounter against Tallon Griekspoor 7-6(5), 6-3. The world No.23 produced a total of 27 winners against 20 unforced errors and won 86% of his first service points. Zandschulp will play Spain’s Jaume Munar in the next round.
Finally, 2021 runner-up Elias Ymer has been knocked out of the tournament. The Swede fell 6-4, 6-4, to Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Hüsler.
