Dimitrov books spot in Madrid quarterfinals with win over Wawrinka
Grigor Dimitrov qualified for the quarterfinals of a second clay-court Masters tournament in a row, defeating Stan Wawrinka in three sets on May 7 to advance to the last eight of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Unlike in Monte-Carlo last month, when Dimitrov defeated Wawrinka (also in the third round) in straight sets, the Bulgarian was made to work to earn his win 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3.
After swopping service breaks mid-way through the first set, Dimitrov was helped by Wawrinka’s unforced errors in the last two points of the tie-break, but Wawrinka surged back in the second frame, breaking Dimitrov’s service early and holding on to level the match.
In the third, the two players stayed on service until Dimitrov was gifted a break-point at 4-3 up by Wawrinka double-faulting and he converted the opportunity after another error from the Swiss. Serving for the match, the Bulgarian held his cool to wrap up the proceedings with the match clock just shy of two hours.
“He was up a break in the first set and he was playing good tennis, much, much better than when we played in Monte-Carlo,” Dimitrov said after the match. “Today, what I think I did really well was to keep a good composure throughout the whole match. I was playing solid tennis, even though, occasionally, he was just outplaying me and over-powering me.”
It was Dimitrov’s third win in a row against Wawrinka, after Monte-Carlo last month and Queen’s in 2014, and he will next face defending champion and four-time Madrid winner Rafael Nadal in the quarters, against whom he is 0-5.
#MMOPEN15 match stats: Grigor #Dimitrov v Stan #Wawrinka. http://t.co/HNDINmxRpO #tennis pic.twitter.com/ocDbjkXzDZ
— TennisTV (@TennisTV) May 7, 2015
