Grigor Dimitrov soars into Australian Open semis
Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov reached the second Grand Slam semi-final of his career on January 25 after a straight sets win over Belgium’s David Goffin 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
With both players struggling on second serve and not quite replicating the level of play from their previous matches, Dimitrov had the edge of doing a better job limiting his own mistakes, recording 25 unforced errors against 46 by Goffin.
The Bulgarian also did a better job on breakpoints, converting six of 15, while Goffin only managed to break serve twice in 10 attempts.
Having won his first title in more than two years and a half earlier this month in Brisbane, Dimitrov is now on the longest winning streak of his career at 10-0 for the year. In Brisbane alone, he notched as many wins, three, over top-10 ranked players as he did in the entire 2016.
His opponent in the semi-final will be a familiar one – either former world number one Rafael Nadal or Milos Raonic, the highest remaining seed in the draw. Dimitrov has a 3-1 career winning record against Raonic, including a win in Brisbane and an upset at the 2014 Australian Open, but is 1-7 against Nadal, although he did win their last match at the China Open last year.
(Photo: Brad Touesnard/flickr.com)