Cincinnati: Grigor Dimitrov beat big-hitting Argentine Juan Martin del Potro for the first time in six career attempts to book a place in the last eight at the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament here Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Bulgarian advanced to his eighth quarterfinal of the season with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Del Potro, who struggled with the intense heat in the closing stages of the 99-minute match.
“He’s a tricky opponent… a super-experienced player,” said Dimitrov. “I definitely had to stay away a little bit from that forehand. I knew if I kept the ball low on his backhand side and just kind of worked my way into the court, it would be the right thing to do. I think I did this thing very, very well today (Thursday).”
Dimitrov will bid for a place in the semifinals when he faces Japan’s Yuichi Sugita, who overcame Russian Karen Khachanov 6-7(0-7), 6-3, 6-3.
Dimitrov got off to a great start by opening up a 3-0 lead against Del Potro. The Argentine mirrored Dimitrov by winning the first three games of the second set but could not convert three set points at 5-4, before he began to struggle in the heat and lost the next three games and the match.
In other matches, John Isner never dropped a service game on his way to a 7-6(7-4), 7-5 win over fellow American Frances Tiafoe. He will face another American in Jared Donaldson who defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-4.
Third seed Dominic Thiem needed two tie-breakers to dispatch France’s Adrian Mannarino 7-6(7-4), 7-6(7-3) and set up a meeting with Spain’s David Ferrer, who upset 11th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-4.
In women’s singles Romanian second seed Simona Halep stayed on track for a tilt at the World No.1 spot with a 6-4, 6-3 third-round win over Anastasija Sevastova.
Sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki stopped the impressive run of 21-year-old Australian qualifier Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-2 to reach the tournament’s quarterfinals for the fourth time. Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded eighth, also reached the last eight by beating Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-4.
Halep can leapfrog Karolina Pliskova as World No.1 by winning the title, which the Czech won last year.
In another match, Wimbledon champions Garbine Muguruza saved three match points before beating Madison Keys 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7-3).
Good day for Indians
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna advanced in the men’s and women’s doubles categories at the Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament here Thursday. The fourth-seeded pair of Sania and her Chinese partner Peng Shuai beat Romanians Irina-Camelia Begu and Raluca Olaru 6-3, 6-7 (1), 10-3. Bopanna and Croatian Ivan Dodig battled past the Colombian-Italian pair Juan Sebastián Cabal and Fabio Fognini with a 5-7, 7-5, 10-8.
Agencies