Dimitrov Battles Into Chengdu Semis

Third seed Grigor Dimitrov rallied from a set and a break down to reach the Chengdu Open semi-finals on Friday, battling past Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in just over two hours.

Since the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where he joined forces with coach, Dani Vallverdu, Dimitrov has gone 11-4 on the ATP World Tour, enjoying a resurgence in form that has seen him reach the semi-finals in Cincinnati (l. to Cilic) and the fourth round of the US Open (l. to Murray).

Dimitrov, who clinched his 200^th tour-level win on Wednesday, will now look to reach his third ATP World Tour final of the season, but it was not without a fight that he got by Schwartzman.

The Bulgarian was in trouble as he trailed by a set and 3-1 in the second set, but broke back in the eighth game before breaking again in the 10^th game to force a decider. After relinquishing an early service break in the third set, Dimitrov broke decisively in the fourth game and went on to seal victory.

For a place in the final of this inaugural ATP World Tour 250 tournament, Dimitrov will face either top seed Dominic Thiem or fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.