Dimitrov Makes Winning Debut

Bulgarian No. 4 seed Grigor Dimitrov has extended his unbeaten streak against Israeli Dudi Sela with a 6-4, 6-2 victory in the opening round at the Delray Beach Open on Monday. Making his tournament debut, the 24 year old needed an hour and eight minutes for his fourth win from as many FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings between the pair.

Dimitrov, coming off a run to the final in Sydney and quarter-finals in Brisbane before his third-round Australian Open exit to Roger Federer, landed just 51 per cent of first serves but lost only two of those 24 points. He never faced a break point throughout. He will take on either Damir Dzumhur or Ricardas Berankis next.

“I woke up this morning and the weather was great and next thing you know I come out to the courts and it’s blowing a lot. You’ve just got to prepare anything that’s out there,” Dimitrov said of the tryng conditions.

“I knew that I have to really focus because Dudi’s an experienced player. As a one-hander, it’s especially tough to control the ball. It’s one of the burdens to having a one-hander that in the windy and tough conditions you can’t hit your shot the way you want to hit it.”

Bidding to return to the top 10 after a disappointing 2015, in comparison to his 2014 season, the World No. 27 in the Emirates ATP Rankings said there were still positives to take from last year. “I’m happy with last year. I know no one expects me to say that but I learnt a lot from last year,” Dimitrov said. 

“It’s the one thing I can say. In those kind of moments you realise a lot of things, sort of a wake-up call. On and off the court, changing the team, I realised what I had to work on a little bit more.

“There was a lot to learn. I started the year positive, happy. I’m enjoying it again. Even when I’m practising down in Miami on Court 10, no one out there, I’m happy to come out on the court and play. I’m not trying to discourage myself too much and just move forward.”

Left-handed No. 8 seed Adrian Mannarino also progressed. The Frenchman bounced back to down Tunisian Malk Jaziri 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 31 minutes.

Mannarino broke serve on four of five opportunities, while Jaziri could only manage two breaks from nine chances. He will face the winner of an all-qualifier clash between Tatsuma Ito and Dennis Novikov.