Staff Reporter.
Grigor Dimitrov dispatched American 10th seed Frances Tiafoe in straight sets with a convincing 6-2 6-3 6-2 victory on Sunday to move into the fourth round of Wimbledon where he will meet Danish sixth seed Holger Rune.
Tiafoe arrived at the All England Club having captured his first grasscourt title at the Stuttgart Open last month but it was the experienced Dimitrov, a former semifinalist here, who prevailed over two days.
The first things Tiafoe highlighted when asked to give his thoughts on Dimitrov prior to the match were the Bulgarian’s first serve, his net game and his slice.
Tiafoe had clearly done his homework, having beaten Dimitrov four years ago at the Australian Open in a last-16 clash he described as “an absolute war”, but this time the American had no answer for the variety of shots in his opponent’s arsenal.
Dimitrov did not disappoint and was virtually unstoppable on serve, firing 13 aces and winning 92 per cent of his first serve points to go two sets up and leave Tiafoe on the ropes before play was suspended on Saturday early in the third set.
When they resumed on Sunday, Dimitrov consolidated an early break and Tiafoe lost his cool in no time, taking his frustration out on a ball by launching it into orbit between points.
Dimitrov, on the other hand, was calm and collected as the 32-year-old went about his business with powerful shots from the baseline and flawless touches at the net to fire 33 winners, leaving the younger and faster Tiafoe with no answers.
The Bulgarian brought up three match points without breaking a sweat and sealed victory with a deft volley at the net after sending Tiafoe desperately scrambling for a return.
Safiullin knocks out Shapovalov
Unseeded Russian Roman Safiullin reached his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal when he secured a shock 3-6 6-3 6-1 6-3 win over Denis Shapovalov.
Safiullin looked out for the count after Shapovalov made a strong start to the fourth-round tie but he weathered the storm and his steady approach paid dividends as a misfiring serve and injury issuesled to his opponent self-destructing.
“I don’t think I realised it before, but going to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, then to a fourth round and now to the quarterfinals, I’m super happy,” Safiullin said in his on-court interview.
“I hope Denis can recover soon.”
Canadian 26th seed Shapovalov raced through the first set before Safiullin hit back to break in the sixth game of the second set courtesy of a double fault, an advantage he would not relinquish.
After the match was all square, Shapovalov committed two more double faults in a dismal start to the third set as Safiullin broke and then held to love for a 2-0 lead.
Minutes later, Safiullin had a 4-1 double-break after yet another double fault from Shapovalov, the seventh of 11.
The situation went from bad to worse for Shapovalov in the fourth set when he appeared to aggravate an injury to his left leg, which left him hobbling around in pain and struggling to cover the court.
He was quickly put out of his misery by the Russian, who broke and then closed out the victory on serve.
Safiullin becomes just the 12th man to reach the quarterfinals on his Wimbledon main-draw debut, adding to the likes of Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Nick Kyrgios.
“It’s definitely something special. I never knew these guys also were among the first ones to do this,” said Safiullin, who won the Australian Open juniors title in 2015 but only broke into the ATP top 100 last year.
“It’s special and I’ll do my best in the quarterfinals to go as far as I can here.
“It’s been hard work, but mentally I’ve changed since getting into the top 100. I’ve gotten a little more confidence in my game and I think it helps a lot.”
Djokovic leads despite Hurkacz ace barrage
Novak Djokovic grabbed a two-set lead in his fourth round match against Hubert Hurkacz but only after withstanding a ferocious barrage of aces from the Pole before play was suspended.
The Serbian, bidding for a fifth successive Wimbledon title and eighth in all, edged two absorbing sets on tiebreaks to lead 7-6(6) 7-6(6) and will surely finish the job on Monday.
Hurkacz rocketed down 23 aces including one clocked at 141mph — the fastest serve of the tournament so far.
Djokovic will sleep a lot easier than he might have done if the 17th seed Hurkacz had taken the opening set after two aces saw him to 6-3 in the tiebreak.
But the pressure of trying to put Djokovic away was too much. Djokovic won both his points on serve to close the gap and then returned a Hurkacz howitzer and the Pole could only roll a forehand into the net.
Another forehand out over the baseline allowed Djokovic to bag the opening set.
With the clock ticking towards Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew, Djokovic hunted the break of serve in the second set that might have cracked Hurkacz’s resistance but every time he had a sniff of a break an ace flew past him.
Hurkacz found himself 0-40 down at 3-4 but cracked down a couple of aces on the way back to deuce only to waft a volley out to give the second seed another chance.
This time Hurkacz’s spinning volley crept over and Djokovic almost fell over the net as he missed the put-away.
Another tiebreak arrived and Hurkacz won a stunning baseline rally to save a set point but two points later he sent a forehand out to hand Djokovic a two-set lead.
With no chance of finishing another set, the players headed off to the locker room.
The winner will face Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals.