Grigor Dimitrov edges past Julien Benneteau into the quarters – Swiss Indoors Basel 2012
World number 62, Grigor Dimitrov, continued to shine at this ATP World Tour 500 indoor hard court event, as he overcame the 37th ranked player from France, Julien Benneteau, in three tie-breakers 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 7-6(3)
in the second round of the Swiss Indoors Basel.
The Bulgarian required nearly three hours to register this tough win over Benneteau.
Dimitrov and Benneteau put on an impressive serving display in the first set, as they held their serves throughout to take the score to 6-6 and force a tie-breaker. The Bulgarian gained a 4-1 lead but Benneteau won three points
in a row to level it at 4-4. Dimitrov clinched another mini-break later on and made the most of it this time to triumph 7-6(5).
In the second set, Dimitrov and Benneteau exchanged a break in the first half and took the score to 3-3. The rest of it went with serves, equalling the proceedings at 6-6 and taking it to another tie-breaker. Benneteau was unstoppable
this time, as he dropped only one point from start till finish, closing it 7-6(1).
After tasting defeat in the second set, Dimitrov made slight changes in his strategy, playing aggressively and getting in result a 3-0 lead. However, Benneteau countered that quite well, coming up with his own aggression and winning
three in a row to even it out at 3-3. In a similar fashion to the previous set, second half of the decider did not see any strike by either of the two players, squaring off the score at 6-6 and forcing third straight tie-breaker. Dimitrov played amazingly
after that, winning first six points to grab a 6-0 lead. Benneteau claimed three consecutively later on but that was too late then, as he lost it 6-7(3).
Dimitrov’s main weapon proved to be his blistering first serves, with the help of which he won 58 of the 75 points including 17 huge aces. Though, the 21-year-old was a bit erratic on the second ones, as he committed five double
faults and lost 20 of the 44 points.
The Bulgarian youngster will face the winner of Nikolay Davydenko or Paul-Henri Mathieu in the quarters.
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