Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov in action during his first round match against Russia's Karen Khachanov REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
On October 27th, at the Vienna Open, we saw Grigor Dimitrov battle against Karen Khachanov. Since both were ranked in the top 20, tennis fans were expecting a very tough contest and they were not disappointed.
The first set of the match was incredibly competitive. Both men were serving incredibly well and that led us to witness a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, both men refused to give up and it could’ve gone either way. However, Dimitrov held his nerve and won it 8-6 to get the upper hand in the match.
In the second set, the Bulgarian started off extremely well as he broke the Khachanov serve to go up 3-0. He went on to break him again to up 5-1 but the Russian immediately broke back. Sadly, it was too late for him to get back into the match as Dimitrov won 7-6, 6-3 to shatter Karen’s chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals.
After a sensational win against Khachanov, Dimitrov has now progressed to the round of 16. There he will either face Jan-Lennard Struff or the player he is seeking revenge against – Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Back at the French Open, Tsitsipas beat Dimitrov in the fourth round. It was a pretty one-sided contest as the Greek star won 6-3, 7-6, 6-2. The Bulgarian is definitely not happy about this defeat and he definitely wants to make up for it.
If he does manage to beat him, Grigor will be very happy. But what will make him even happier is if he wins the title in Vienna. A win there will help him go up in the rankings as he will move from No.20 to No. 12. This is a huge jump and he is definitely hoping to make it.
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