A year removed from barely losing to eventual champion Marin Cilic in the semifinals, Grigor Dimitrov captured his maiden Masters 1000 trophy after edging out Nick Kyrgios 6-3 7-5 at the Western & Southern Open final.
Dimitrov Emerges Victorious over Kyrgios in Cincinnati
Two new challengers, one winner
Both players were entering uncharted territory in Cincinnati. Prior to this week, neither had reached the championship match at this level. The 2002 Montreal final between Guillermo Cañas and 20-year-old Andy Roddick was the most recent such final featuring two debutants.
Nerves and shakiness should have been expected on both ends of the court. However, Dimitrov managed to hold his composure throughout the match. On the other hand, Kyrgios never found his groove.
Nothing spectacular happened early on, until two consecutive double faults by the Bulgarian gave Kyrgios his first break point. On the back of a stout defense, Dimitrov saved it and quickly jumped to a threatening 0-30 lead on the Aussie’s service turn. At 30-all, Dani Vallverdu’s pupil used a short slice to induce an ugly forehand error by Kyrgios to set up a break point of his own. Unlike his opponent, the 26-year-old did not waste his lone opportunity in the opening set.
The mercurial Australian had a timid reaction but, uncharacteristically, he was too tentative instead of aggressive when the stakes were high. The first set was in the books.
The second set followed a similar pattern. His otherworldly service bailed Kyrgios out of trouble, but he was too erratic once the points broke loose.
Much like David Ferrer the day before, Dimitrov outplayed Kyrgios in basically every facet of the game except the serve, as Kyrgios’ is perhaps the best in the business.
Midway through the second set, the Canberra youngster had produced zero winners and a whopping 15 unforced errors off his backhand wing. That will not cut it at this level.
Another underwhelming statistic for the 22-year-old was his disappointing 31% winning percentage against Dimitrov’s second serve (8 out of 26)…including five double faults. Those are some hardly believable numbers.
That is right. Dimitrov obtained a straight sets victory on a lightning quick court like Cincinnati over a streaking Kyrgios despite putting only 56% of his first serves in. Stats like that are totally unsustainable digits if Dimitrov wants to win the upcoming US Open. Instead, he played lights out defense and mixed in deft slices that consistently forced the Australian to bend down.
Key stat of the day: according to the ATP official stats, Dimitrov held a lopsided lead in long rallies (over nine shots), winning 14 out of 15.
ATP World Tour Finals debut, a lot closer
Following his third title of the season (Brisbane, Sofia), the Haskovo native received a substantial bump in his aspirations to participate in the ATP World Tour Finals. The Bulgarian is now sitting at No. 6 in the Race to London, although he is technically fifth since Stan Wawrinka is done for the year. Winning on a fast court like Cincinnati also bodes well for possible success in London, though the indoor courts will present very different conditions.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
