Grigor Dimitrov hunts down Bernard Tomic in the opening round brawl – World Tennis Tournament 2013
World number 41, Grigor Dimitrov, went through a gruelling three-setter before he could hunt down the Australian tennis prodigy, Bernard Tomic, in the opening round of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament on Monday. The 21-year-old
Bulgarian battled for one hour and 33 minutes, settling the final score line at 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
It was the first encounter between these two youngsters and a fierce battle was expected before the match even took off. It happened just like that and both contenders stretched each other to their limits. Dimitrov delivered the
initial blow and cruised through the opening set to get into the driving seat. However, the 20-year-old Aussie came back firing in the following set and clinched the equaliser comprehensively. Tomic couldn’t sustain his winning momentum in the decisive set
and Dimitrov delivered some lusty blows to take away an emphatic victory in style.
“I think it was a pretty fair match from both of us,” said Dimitrov. “We both struggled at the beginning of the match. In the first set, he was trying to find his rhythm, and then he got into the match. At the end, I had a couple
of good returns in the third set and afterwards, I served it out.”
The opener took a steady start from both sides and no break points were witnessed in the opening seven games. Dimitrov constructed an opportunity in the eighth game and broke the Aussie serve for the first time in the match. He
held his next serve and won the first set at 6-3.
Tomic had a much aggressive start in the following set and broke Dimitrov’s serve in the fourth game. A successful serve hold in the next game took the 20-year-old Australian to a commanding lead of 4-1. The Bulgarian contestant
couldn’t recover from the early deficit and had to succumb at 3-6.
The final set was a complete replication of the opening one, with both players holding their serves in the opening seven games and Dimitrov nailing a break of serve in the eighth game to lead 5-3. The unseeded Bulgarian finished
off the proceedings at 6-3 and booked a match against the Russian veteran, Nikolay Davydenko, in the second round of the tournament.
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