Grigor Dimitrov battled back from a break down in both sets to beat Juan Martin Del Potro 7-6(6), 7-5 during second-round action at the China Open on Wednesday afternoon. Dimitrov needed exactly two hours to set up a quarterfinal showdown against Roberto Bautista Agut.
Del Potro hung tough–and even led–most of the way, but his game let him down in the crucial moments. The Argentine double-faulted at 6-7 to end the first-set tiebreaker and he wasted all of a 5-2 lead in the second. Dimitrov took the last five games of the match to wrap things up in style.
Beijing’s No. 3 seed is joined in the quarters by eighth-seeded Nick Kyrgios, a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 winner of Mischa Zverev.
During last year’s Asian swing (at the Shanghai Masters), Kyrgios blatantly tanked in a blowout loss to Zverev. This time around, the story was much different. The 22-year-old found himself in a spot of bother down by a set, but never lost his way from a mental standpoint. Kyrgios recovered in swift fashion, rolling through the next two sets to finish the job in a lightning-quick one-hour and 21-minute three-setter.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” the world No. 19 commented. “He plays a very old-school type of tennis; likes to come forward a lot. I got broken early in the first. Then I kind of knew I had to loosen up and find my rhythm a little bit. I started serving much better; started just relaxing. I knew I was going to feel pretty comfortable at some stage out there. Obviously (I’m) just really happy to get through.”
Next up for Kyrgios on Friday is qualifier Steve Darcis.
Highlights:
[polldaddy poll=9845000]
[polldaddy poll=9845004]
Leave a Reply