Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria beat fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 7-6 7-6 in a second-round match at the ATP Rotterdam Open on Wednesday. The 31-year-old Bulgarian took a little more than two hours to get the better of his higher-ranked opponent to reach the quarterfinal. Dimitrov will play his quarterfinal match on Friday, taking on either Alex de Minaur or Maxime Cressy. But what were the keys to the Bulgarian’s victory?
Hurkacz targeted Dimitrov’s backhand, but the Bulgarian responded with slices:
Hurkacz directed a lot of traffic towards Grigor Dimitrov’s backhand from the beginning, not allowing the Bulgarian to hit dictate with his preferred forehand. However, Dimitrov responded well by utilising his backhand slice to take the pace off the ball. As a result, Hurkacz often had to try and generate pace himself. The Pole struggled to do so, in part because the ball was keeping low. The result was a number of cross-court backhand exchanges, with both players making use of slice. But it was Dimitrov who had the better of them, for the most part.
Dimitrov fares better under pressure
Dimitrov was the better player when it mattered most – in both the sets. Both went to a tiebreak and Dimitrov won both to sneak through to the last eight in straight sets. It was closely fought throughout, but Hurkacz made too many unforced errors at times that he could ill-afford to. That made Dimtrov, not always the best under pressure himself, a lot more comfortable than he would have been otherwise.
Hurkacz looked to take matters into his own hands by charging the net and he did win a handful of points with some well-executed volleys and a backhand smash, but he simply could not quite dominate proceedings. The match ended as the Pole hit one of his shots wide of the tramline to hand Dimitrov a hard-fought, but well-deserved, victory.
Main photo credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports
