Grigor Dimitrov defeats Brian Dabul; cruises into the second round – Hall of Fame Championships 2011
World number 60, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria faced no real challenge in disposing off his Argentine competitor, Brian Dabul, in the opening round of the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Monday.
Seeded at number two in the tournament, Dimitrov eased his way to victory by taking down Dabul in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, to move into the next round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
The unseeded Argentine hung in the matchup for merely one hour and three minutes before submitting the game in the second set. It appeared a pretty one-sided contest with the Bulgarian winning the opening set and gaining a strong
position in the matchup early. After a scrappy start in the opener, Dabul posed some resistance in the second set but Dimitrov had come up even more, wrapping a convincing straight sets victory.
Dabul had a brilliant serve accuracy of 75 per cent in the game but the Argentine delivered some critical errors into hands of the overpowering Bulgarian, who fully capitalized on them. Despite a below par first serve of just 50
per cent, Dimitrov amazingly secured 23 out of 26 first serve points in the matchup and cracked in eight thudding aces to collect some easy points as well.
The sloppy Argentine failed to sting even a single serve break in the entire contest, frittering away all the three break opportunities he had from the Bulgarian. Dimitrov proved very effective with cashing in crucial opportunities
and converted three out of six break points to oust the Argentine from the competition with the utmost ease.
The Bulgarian was off to a flyer in the opening set, breaking in the very first serve game to lead 2-0 early in the contest. Dabul served magnificently with 80 per cent precision but couldn’t hold the fury of Dimitrov in the game
and dropped serve once more towards the end of the first set. The Bulgarian closed the opener at 6-2 and carried on his winning impetus in the following set as well.
Dabul finally showed some signs of life in the set number two and held his serve in the first three games before Dimitrov finally broke him to reach 5-4. The Bulgarian then served out of the second set at 6-4 to conclude a comprehensive
victory and moved it into the second round of Campbell’ Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Dimitrov will take on either Denis Kudla of the United States or the Croatian competitor Ivo Carlovic in the next round clash.
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