Dimitrov yet to show his best form and Kyrgios probably close to his best at this stage of the Open, and luckily our expectations were met, because both players lifted their games to a level which resulted in one of the matches of the tournament.
Dimitrov opened proceedings and was quickly to 40-0 before a double fault and two winning Aussie forehands brought him to deuce.
Another double before a service hold.
Grigor took five minutes to register a score - Nick took 90 seconds.
1-1.
Aces and winners then became the norm as the crowd became dizzy at the skills displayed.
Dimitrov an ace and two winners 2-1
Kyrgios two aces 2-2
Dimitrov an ace and BH and FH winners 3-2
etc etc
Game Six was where it suddenly became difficult for Nick.
He began with a typical ace, but Grigor’s two wicked backhands and a double fault left Nick facing two break points.
A winning forehand and an ace dispensed with those, but Dimitrov came up with a forehand to give Nick another break point with which to deal.
A forehand developed in Australia, matching the one released in Bulgaria, saved Nick from his immediate peril and games were 3-3.
4-4 with 2 more aces apiece.
5-5 and another 3 aces to add to the pack - poker hands potentially star studded
Game eleven and the time for Dimitrov to strike a little drama.
He was up 40-15 when a double fault and a Kyrgios winner brought him to deuce, a place he’d previously visited when serving in the opening game of the set. He doesn’t like that destination so he left it and led 6-5.
Nick served three aces to force a tie break.
The Aussie basically made a mess of the tie break, wasting chances of contesting, and losing it 7-3 and the set 7-6(3).
Set two was similar to its previous version, with big serves and big forehands, and ancillary stuff to thrill the audience.
Except we saw breaks of serve on the way to this tie break
Nick began with his quota of two aces and a winner, while Grigor replied with his regular one ace and two winners.
Grigor’s next service game was problematic with two deuces negotiated before closing the deal with an ace. 2-2.
A series of unforced Kyrgios errors donated a service break to Dimitrov and the lead 4-3.
A love game and 5-3.
Nick survived deuce, liking it as much as Grigor, and now faced his mate who was serving at 5-4 for a two set lead.
From 40-30 Dimitrov delivered three errors, two forced, and the break came. 5-5
Nick held, clinched with an ace. 6-5
Grigor ensued a tie break 6-6.
This time the two were locked at 4-4 when Nick lost the key point again, Grigor proceeding to a 7-6(3) 7-6(4) lead.
Dimitrov survived two deuces before winning the opening game of set three. Kyrgios saved a break point and an ace and backhand winner were his allies in levelling it at 1-1.
Nick broke in the fifth game to lead 3-2,
Serves were held through to the ninth game with Grigor saving a set point in that same game.
Nick won the set with a love game - three aces and a clean winner.
6-7(3) 6-7(4) 6-4 match alive.
Kyrgios saved two break points in the fourth game of the fourth set for 2-2.
Dimitrov saved one in the next game.
Grigor broke in the eighth game for 5-3,
Kyrgios immediately broke back and consolidated at 5-5.
Serves were held and a third tie break was needed.
All even until Nick lost the seventh point, which was on his serve.
Grigor then claimed three of the last four points with forehand winners.
The match was over 7-6(3) 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(4) to Dimitrov.
A high class match and Grigor has a quarter final appointment with unseeded Kyle Edmund.
Nick has nothing to be ashamed of - he pushed the number three seed all the way but was just short of the mark.
Not much to say about the women’s fourth round match between fourth seed Elina Svitolina and unseeded Denisa Allertova.
Svitolina started slowly, being broken in the third game, but then she won eleven of the next twelve games to win 6-3 6-0 in less than an hour.
Elina’s quarter final opponent will be unseeded Elise Mertens.
No comments:
Post a Comment