Dimitrov Survives Dzumhur Scare

The highest remaining seed at the Delray Beach Open, Grigor Dimitrov, has avoided joining the list of upsets, surviving 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 against Damir Dzumhur on Wednesday night. Trailing a set, the Bulgarian was down a break in the second and third sets before rallying to deny the Bosnian the quarter-final berth.

Dzumhur, making his Delray Beach debut, had avenged his Memphis defeat to Ricardas Berankis in the first round and had the World No. 28 in the Emirates ATP Rankings well and truly on the ropes. 

“I was trying to find my game. I didn’t think I was playing well. All the credit to Damir, he deserved all the way to win,” Dimitrov said. “I was just patient and I was very centred towards the end of the match. I thought I was very composed and just putting the ball in the court, that’s all I had to do. A win is a win.”

It was the Bulgarian who made the stronger start, breaking for 2-0 before surging to 4-1. From there, however, the 23-year-old Dzumhur reeled off five straight games to take the opening set after 39 minutes.

Trailing a break at 2-3 in the second set, Dimitrov broke his opponent to draw level before breaking again to send the match to a decider on his second set point. As with the start of the second set, however, Dimitrov dropped serve immediately and soon found himself down 3-1 in the third. He would survive two break points when serving for the match, eventually taking the last five games to close it out in just under two hours.

“As soon as darkness came it was just a completely different game,” Dimitrov said. “The ball was a little lower. He was chasing a lot of balls down, playing down the line, which surprised me.

“I found a solution, that was it. I knew physically I was going to be there … Today, I had good composure throughout; in the second and third sets things just happened for me.”