Grigor Dimitrov battled past Steve Johnson 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) at the Abierto de Tenis Mitel in Los Cabos ending a four-match losing streak.
Dimitrov came back from 2-5 down in the opening set to win the tie-break of the first set 7-4.
The Bulgarian player got a break lead in the sixth game of the decisive set, but he did not convert a match point at 5-3 40-30. He dropped his serve, as he was serving for the match. Dimitrov sealed the tie-break 7-5 with a volley winner on his second match point.
“I knew I had to be ready for everything. It was a pretty good first set from me. Then in the second, I had my chances. He started serving better. It was just harder to return well, and then again in the third, he played a good game to break me when I was serving for the match. The tie-break was super tight”,said Dimitrov.
Taylor Fritz beat qualifier Dominik Koepfer 6-3 6-4 in 59 minutes. Fritz never faced a break point and converted two break point chances at 3-2 in the first set and 2-2 in the second set. The young US player sealed the win with a hold at love in the 10th game to clinch his 23th win of the season.
Taro Daniel cruised past Tennys Sandgren 6-2 6-0 with five breaks of serve.
Radu Albot edged past Janko Tipsarevic 7-5 2-6 6-0 in 2 hours and 1 minute to clinch his 23th win of the season.
Last week’s Atlanta semifinalist Cameron Norrie beat Gregoire Barrere 7-6 6-0 after 1 hour and 24 minutes. Norrie wasted three set points before winning the tie-break of the first set 7-5. The British player dropped only eight points in his 6-0 win in the second set.
Juan Ignacio Londero came back from one set down to beat Christian Garin 3-6 6-2 6-3 dropping his serve once.
South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon cruised past Gstaad finalist Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-2 6-1 after 71 minutes. Stebe was too tired after the long travel from Switzerland and dropped his serve four times.
