Dimitrov denies Rublev in 5, reaches US Open QFs

p Can a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/grigor-dimitrov/d875/overview'Grigor Dimitrov/a add a Grand Slam title challenge to his resurgent 2024?

p The Bulgarian withstood a stirring comeback from a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andrey-rublev/re44/overview'Andrey Rublev/a to clinch victory in a pulsating fourth-round a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a clash on Sunday afternoon in New York. The ninth-seeded Dimitrov kept his cool for a 6-3, 7-6(3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3 triumph after three hours and 39 minutes inside a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/arthur-ashe/a063/overview'Arthur Ashe/a Stadium. /p

p Two of the cleanest baseline ballstrikers on the ATP Tour produced some scintillating rallies for an engrossed crowd inside a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/arthur-ashe/a063/overview'Arthur Ashe/a Stadium. Although Dimitrov fired fewer winners than Rublev (41 to 47) and more unforced errors (67 to 59), his ability to raise his level under pressure proved crucial to his victory. /p

p “I was playing fairly good, I think, for the first two sets,” said Dimitrov in his on-court interview. “But for some reason my body was starting to lose its rhthym a little bit and he was not going to just give up the match. You know how he is. I just had to stay patient and I think today the biggest thing that helped me was my experience and [the crowd].” /p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"p lang="en" dir="ltr"Big stage for a big milestone ????a href="https://twitter.com/GrigorDimitrov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@GrigorDimitrov/a advances to his 8th Grand Slam quarter-final, defeating Rublev in five sets! a href="https://twitter.com/usopen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@usopen/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USOpen?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#USOpen/a a href="https://t.co/5Ff55OjsDL"pic.twitter.com/5Ff55OjsDL/a/pmdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1830333543513305093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"September 1, 2024/a/blockquote script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"/script

p Examples of the former World No. 3’s resilience included when he reeled off six straight points from 1/3 in the second-set tie-break to move into a two-set lead, while he also crucially held serve from 15/40 when serving at 4-2 in the decider. Although Rublev had dialled in on serve across sets three and four, during which he sent down 11 of his 21 aces, it was the Bulgarian who found a way to a victory that levelled the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 4-4. /p

p After notching his 450th tour-level win against Rublev, Dimitrov improved to 37-13 for the season. The 33-year-old, who lifted his first ATP Tour title since 2017 in Brisbane in January, has been a member of the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings since April, having previously not featured since 2018. /p

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p Dimitrov, whose good friend Serena Williams was watching from the stands inside a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/arthur-ashe/a063/overview'Arthur Ashe/a Stadium, will hope to continue his strong year by reaching the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a semi-finals for the first time. The nine-time tour-level titlist, who reached his only previous quarter-final at Flushing Meadows in 2019, will take on home favourite a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/frances-tiafoe/td51/overview'Frances Tiafoe/a or a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexei-popyrin/p09z/overview'Alexei Popyrin/a in the last eight. /p

p “I’m going to enjoy tonight. I’m trying to enjoy every single moment and I’m celebrating every day that I get to be out here,” said Dimitrov. “I’m just focusing on myself. I’ve had very tough weeks, with my body and everything. So I just want to focus on my rehab and the good things that I did today, things that I can improve, just keep it as basic as possible, and I’m thrilled to be through to the second week.” /p

p With a number of his closest rivals in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin having already exited the draw at Flushing Meadows, Dimitrov has significantly boosted his a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a qualification hopes by reaching his 11th Grand Slam quarter-final. The Bulgarian has risen three spots to 10th in the Live Race as a result of his run so far. He could rise as high as eighth by reaching the semi-finals. /p

p [NEWSLETTER FORM] /p