It may not get nearly as much publicity as more marquee matchups on the ATP World Tour, but Grigor Dimitrov vs. Steve Johnson has become one of tennis’ surprising rivalries over the past 15 months. Their latest contest at the China Open on Wednesday marked their fifth showdown since the start of Wimbledon last season, and it did not disappoint. Johnson erased a set and a break deficit and saved four match points in the second-set tiebreaker before Dimitrov righted the ship to prevail 7-5, 6-7(9), 6-4 after two hours and 44 minutes.
The world No. 20 now leads the head-to-head series 3-2, having also gotten the job done at the recent Cincinnati Masters to avenge a Wimbledon third-round loss to Johnson earlier this summer.
Johnson flirted with disaster throughout the third set on Wednesday, fighting off a total of six break points in three different service games en route to a 4-3 lead. But the 23rd-ranked American failed to survive his next service game at 4-4 and the one break in Dimitrov’s favor proved to make all the difference. The Bulgarian surrendered a mere five points in his last five service games and clinched victory with another routine hold at 5-4.
Dimitrov was joined in the winner’s circle by No. 1 seed Andy Murray, who dominated his second-round match against Andrey Kuznetsov 6-2, 6-1. Murray’s reward is an all-British quarterfinal date with Kyle Edmund, who ousted seventh-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
“The day of the match, it’s always a little bit uncomfortable,” Murray said of going up against Edmund. “Because normally when you see your friends and stuff in the locker room, you have a chat (and) joke around a bit. But on match days, it always tends to be a little bit more serious.
“Once you get out on the court and start competing, it’s fine. After the match, again, it’s always fine. But it’s just sort of the couple hours before when you see each other in the locker room, it can be a little bit uncomfortable.”
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