Dimitrov way downs the standings to qualify for London

Published 10/03/2018, 5:10 PM EDT

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The Bulgarian tennis ace, Grigor Dimitrov exists from the Chinese ATP tournament in Beijing. The third seed Baby Federer, Dimitrov surrenders to Dusan Lajovic. He is the defending champion of the ATP Tour Finals title. His loss at the China Open makes his qualification or the season-ending event in London uncertain. The Bulgarian was trembling with his serves during the entire match. His nine double faults rewarded the 28-year-old Serbian, Lajovic his quarterfinal win in Beijing.

So far, Dimitrov is the first elite of the ATP Rankings to way out from Beijing. It was the second win for Lajovic against a top ten player. The first one being over Juan Martin del Potro in May in the Mutua Madrid Open third round. “The first set was hard to play because we had a shadow on the court, in the end, it was a dogfight,” Lajovic said. After his 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win against the former World Number 3, Dimitrov, Lajovic will be meeting the fifth-seeded Briton, Kyle Edmund. Dimitrov smacked nine aces and won 72 per cent of his first-service points. This year he was the runner-up at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in February.

via Imago

Meanwhile, on other courts, Del Potro steamrolls to the quarterfinals by defeating the Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-6 (4). He books the berth for the ATP Finals for the fifth time. The US Open finalist, qualified for the year-ending tournament for the top eight players in the world in 2013. The Argentine will next set up a clash against Lajovic compatriot, Filip Krajinovic in the last eight of the Beijing tournament.

via Imago

Simultaneously on the WTA courts, the second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki breezed into the third round with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Petra Martic.”I was just trying to stay focused and tried to run a lot of balls down, try to mix up the pace, be aggressive when I could,” said Wozniacki. The former World Number one,  Karolina Pliskova also advances tot he third round in China.

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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