Grigor Dimitrov: 'My desired victory came against Roger Federer at US Open'

Grigor Dimitrov will finish the season in the top-20, mainly thanks to a couple of notable results from 2019. The Bulgarian was the US Open semi-finalist a year ago, competing on a high level and scoring his famous victory at that event. Asked about his favorite matches and triumphs, Dimitrov mentioned New York's epic win over Roger Federer from a year ago, coming from two sets to one down to remain on the title course. It was Grigor's first victory over Roger in eight encounters, prevailing 3-6 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in three hours and 12 minutes to reach the semis. Thus, world no. 78 became the lowest-ranked player in the Major semi-final since Rainer Schuettler at Wimbledon 2008 and the US Open since Jimmy Connors in 1991, hitting the semis for the first time since spring 2018! Roger gave his best to continue where he left against Daniel Evans and David Goffin, but it wasn't enough to beat the Bulgarian, taking sets one and three but losing those in between to hit the exit door, failing to win the US Open crown for the 11th straight years after five in a row between 2004-08!

The Swiss had to take the medical timeout after the fourth set and never stood a chance in the decider to propel Grigor through, with the Bulgarian facing the young Russian Daniil Medvedev in the battle for the final. Dimitrov tamed his shots nicely and bounced back after losing sets one and three, defending ten out of 14 break points and earning five return games to advance into the next round. Federer sprayed too many errors thanks to that pale deciding set, wasting his opportunities to close the match before going to the distance and having to settle with the quarter-final. Roger was off to a flying start, taking 14 of the first 17 points to grab a 3-0 lead and keep it up throughout the set for 6-3. Grigor bounced back in the second, moving 5-2 in front with a break in game six and looking good to level the overall score at 1-1.

Grigor Dimitrov's favorite victory came against Roger Federer at the US Open 2019.

Federer broke back in game nine but couldn't use that momentum, suffering another break at 4-5 to hand the set to his rival in what would turn out to be one of the pivotal moments of the entire clash. Despite this setback, Federer returned stronger in the third set, stealing Dimitrov's serve in games seven and nine for 6-3 and moving a set away from the finish line and the place in the last four. Ready to fight until the end, Grigor earned a break at the beginning of the fourth set and defended it nicely, repelling five break chances at 5-4 in another critical moment to take the set 6-4 and force a decider. Struggling with an injury, Federer took a medical timeout that didn't help him, earning one point on the return in the final set and suffering breaks in games one and three to hand the triumph to Dimitrov.

"I scored my desired victory against Roger Federer at the last year's US Open. To beat him on such an occasion and the way it happened, it meant more to me than against any other player. Of course, I appreciate so many other wins that I've had, but that particular one meant more to me. I would say that match was the one that sticks out the most," Grigor Dimitrov said.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3gPyJNU