In early January Australia’s Nick Kyrgios defeated world no. 3 Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinal at the Brisbane International. Kyrgios would go on to claim the title. Last night on Rod Laver arena the two players faced off again to fight for a spot in the Australian Open quarterfinals.
Based on recent results many were picking the world no. 17 from Canberra to take the win. Instead, it was Dimitrov who played the big points better to claim a thrilling 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 victory.
Dimitrov, who was taken to five sets in his second round match against USA’s Mackenzie McDonald upped his game to another level. Kyrgios, on the other hand, seemed to not be as sharp as in earlier matches.
In each of the tie-breakers Dimitrov always edged ahead and from there, his brilliant defence, or amazing shotmaking took him into the quarterfinals.
Kyrgios at times was irritated by his supporters box where he would yell at them if they did not stand to show their support. There was a comical moment late in the match when the supporters were not standing. Kyrgios glared across at the box and his dad sheepishly stood, then slowly the others followed.
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Speaking after the match during an on-court interview Dimitrov spoke about what did he learn about himself, this is what he said, “About myself? That’s a fair question. I mean, I learned that I can, you know, I can switch to another gear when I really need it. I think this is something that I have been struggling obviously this tournament. The first couple of rounds or even the three first rounds I was not striking the ball well. I know that, but I was still clutch on the important moments, which was good.
But today I was just able to overtake my game completely differently, having a high percentage in the first serve, high percentage on the return. Being able to play my game a little bit more, counting a little bit more on my strongest weapons, and, yeah, I think that was a good step forward for me.”
Next up for Dimitrov is Kyle Edmund from Great Britain. Edmund defeated Andreas Seppi to advance. Dimitrov and Edmund met in the Brisbane International quarterfinals where Dimitrov came out a winner, although Edmund twisted his ankle late in a hotly contested match.
