Grigor Dimitrov booked a spot in a second straight Masters 1000 quarterfinal when he knocked out Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4 in the third round of the Western & Southern Open on Thursday afternoon. Dimitrov held all 10 of his service games and fought off the only break point he faced to advance after one hour and 22 minutes.
By virtue of his win, the Bulgarian has just about locked up a seed for the upcoming U.S. Open. He is projected to reach 32nd in the world rankings next week, which is when seeding is done for the year’s final major. Even if Dimitrov loses his quarterfinal contest on Friday, he would have to be surpassed by both Borna Coric and Yuichi Sugita to get bounced from the seeded range. For that to happen, Sugita would have to win the Cincinnati title and he would have to defeat Coric in the final. But the next outing is still huge for Dimitrov, because if he goes all the way to the semifinals he will wrap up a top 24 seed in Flushing Meadows.
With Roger Federer already out of the U.S. Open, Dimitrov is provisionally 31st at the moment as opposed to 32nd.
The world No. 34, who made a run to the Toronto quarters earlier this month, also improved to 4-2 lifetime at Wawrinka’s expense. Dimitrov has won four in a row against Wawrinka since the Swiss last prevailed at the Madrid Masters in 2013. The 25-year-old is also 8-1 in his last nine total sets against Wawrinka.
Given that Sugita winning it all and Coric appearing in the final are unlikely developments at best, there is not much more New York seeding drama to be had at the Western & Southern Open. Benoit Paire will need at least one more withdrawal (possibly from Philipp Kohlschreiber) after the Frenchman dropped his opener this week to Coric. Viktor Troicki, who fell in the first round to Marin Cilic, will require at least two more withdrawals.
Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic are in a battle for the fourth seed for the U.S. Open that would have otherwise gone to Federer. Nadal has a 315-point advantage on Raonic, so the Canadian may have to hoist the winner’s trophy in Cincinnati if he wants to make the all-important move in the rankings.
Dominic Thiem got a free ride into the Cincinnati quarterfinals from Gael Monfils and therefore still owns the inside track on the No. 8 seed in NYC. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has a realistic shot at overtaking Thiem, while Marin Cilic would have to win the title in order to do the same.
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