Grigor Dimitrov followed up his quarter final win over Alexander Dolgopolov with a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) win over Gilles Muller in the semifinal in his second match on Friday after the quarter finals were washed out on Thursday due to persistent rain.
Both players finished their quarter final matches before returning to the court for the semifinals on Friday.
In a rain-interrupted match Dimitrov dropped just two points on serve to cruise to 6-2 in the first set. Muller fired 12 aces in the second set but he was unable to overcome Dimitrov who saved three break points. The Bulgarian player fended off a set point in the 10th game before sealing the win on the first match point with 7-4 in the tie-break. Dimitrov has reached a final for the first time since October 2014 when he lost to Tomas Berdych in Stockolm.
Dimitrov won 79 percent of his service points and withstood 12 aces.
“I am happy to be back in a final. I am aiming definitely higher and looking at the big picture right now. Whether it’s Brisbane or Sydney or any other tournament, it’s just as important as any other Grand Slam or any of the Masters 1000. I am just taking this very seriously, but at the same time trying to enjoy this moment. I think I know when I do that, I feel happier. It’s been a good day at the office. I was pretty tired yesterday. Four times on and off the court and I played Alex in tough conditions. That took a lot out of me”, said Dimitrov.
In tomorrow’s final Dimitrov will face defending champion Viktor Troicki, who rallied from a set down for the second time today to edge out Teymuraz Gabashvili 3-6 6-4 6-4 in just over two hours. Earlier today Troicki beat Nicolas Mahut 4-6 6-3 6-3.
After a short rain delay Gabashvili got two early breaks of serve to race to a 3-0 lead. Troicki broke serve but Gabashvili pulled away to 5-3 before breaking serve for the third time to seal the first set. The Russian player broke again in the second set to take a 4-2 lead before the match was interrupted by rain again.
After the rain delay Troicki bounced back breaking serve twice to reel off four consecutive games and forced the match to the decider. Troicki raced to a 5-2 lead but he missed a match point in the next game. Gabashvili broke serve to claw his way back to 4-5 but Troicki held his serve to love to book his berth in the final against Dimitrov.
“It was a successful day. I played good tennis considering the conditions today. It was tough mentally going on and off the court all the time”, said Troicki.
Round up quarter finals:
Grigor Dimitrov came back from a set down to edge out Alexander Dolgopolov 4-6 6-3 6-4 to reach the semifinals at the Apia International in Sydney. The match resumed on Friday after it was suspended by rain on Thursday as Dimitrov was leading 4-2 in the third set. As Dimitrov served for the match at 5-4, he closed out the match at love. Dimitrov and Dolgopolov spent two hours and 14 minutes on court over two days.
“I was actually rushing a lot this morning. I didn’t expect the match before between Gabashvili and Tomic to finish that way. So I just jumped straight to the court from the practice court. I served well, so I think that was good enough. I knew Alex would come out and start shooting every ball so I had to be ready”, said Dimitrov.
Dimitrov set up a semifinal against Gilles Muller who beat Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (7-5) 6-3. Both players closed out the first set before the match was suspended. The second set went on serve before Muller got the break to take a 4-3 lead. Muller sealed the win in the ninth game on the second match point.
Dimitrov hit 24 winners to 29 unforced errors compared to Dolgopolov’s 29 winners to 39 unforced errors.
“You just have to be ready to play, stay focused and be ready for whenever you have to play and that’s something I did very well”, said Muller.
Last week’s Brisbane semifinalist Bernard Tomic, winner in Sydney in 2013 and finalist in 2014, was trailing 3-6 0-3 against Teymuraz Gabashvili when he withdrew from the match due to dizziness.
Gabashvili’s next rival in the semifinal is Viktor Troicki who rallied from a set down to overcome French qualifier Nicolas Mahut in three sets with 4-6 6-3 6-3. With this victory Troicki has extended his streak to 10 consecutive wins in Sydney.
Mahut got a break at 3-3 in the first set en route to taking a 5-3 lead. The Frenchman saved a break-back point in the next game before clinching the first set.
Troicki broke at the start of the second set and never looked back to take the second set with 6-3. Troicki and Mahut traded breaks at the start of the third set. Troicki broke again in the seventh game before sealing the win with another break in the ninth game.
“I feel physically fit and ready to play the long matches. I think it’s great preparation for the Slam where we have longer matches and we can play five sets”, said Troicki.
