Dimitrov Fends Off Krajinovic Challenge

Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the quarter-finals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament with a 7-6(4), 7-5 win over Filip Krajinovic on Thursday. 

Dimitrov, seeded second in Rotterdam, was under pressure throughout the one hour, 43 minute match. The Bulgarian saved four break points in the opening set before capitalising on a double fault by Krajinovic at 5-4 in the tie-break. Dimitrov clinched the set a point later.

Krajinovic’s serve held up well again in the second until the 11th game of the set, when the Serbian fell behind 0/40. Dimitrov broke at 30/40, then closed out the match the next game. Dimitrov’s power factored into the outcome. The ATP World Tour No.5 hit 33 winners to Krajinovic’s 20. Dimitrov also fired 13 aces. 

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Dimitrov will play Andrey Rublev for a spot in the semi-finals. Rublev overcame a shaky start to defeat Damir Dzumhur 6-4, 7-6(4) earlier in the day. 

The Russian, now 4-0 against Dzumhur in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, expected a tough test and got one. Rublev dropped his serve twice in the opening set before battling back to book his place in the quarter-finals.

“It was a really close match,” Rublev said. “Damir is the kind of player that you need to fight every point of every rally. He gets every ball back. I expected this kind of match, with lots of breaks and long rallies. He’s really tough.”

In a match between qualifiers, Daniil Medvedev came from a set down to defeat Pierre-Hugues Herbert 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4. The Russian will play Andreas Seppi on Friday.