Grigor Dimitrov came through a tight battle against good friend Andrey Rublev, winning in five fluctuating sets 6-3, 7-6, 1-6, 3-6, 6-3 in three hours and 39 minutes to reach his first US Open quarter-final since 2019.
Playing in front of six-time former champion Serena Williams, ninth seed Dimitrov was first out of the blocks and broke early to go 3-1 ahead – prompting Rublev into one of his all-too-familiar on court-outbursts, this time smacking his racket to his hand multiple times and which required treatment at the next changeover. Dimitrov played calmly and held throughout to take the first set while Rublev roared in anger.
Sixth seed Rublev, who won in straight sets when the pair faced off at this same event back in 2017, controlled himself much better in the second set and broke serve first but faltered when serving for the set at 5-3 up and let his opponent off the hook, who soon levelled at 5-5 before entering the tie-break. Although Rublev took an early mini-break, it was the Bulgarian who played more aggressively to win the breaker 7-3, including winning a sumptuous 22-shot rally with a forehand winner.
“I was playing fairly good in the first two sets,” said Dimitrov on court afterwards. “For some reason, my body was starting to lose its rhythm a little bit. Andrey isn’t going to just give up this match. You know how he is. I just have to stay patient. I think today the biggest thing that helped me was my experience.”
From two sets up and playing confidently, all signs pointed to a regulation win, but suddenly Dimitrov’s game disappeared completely as Rublev snatched the third set for the loss of just one game. Dimitrov tried to wrestle back momentum and forced triple breakpoint at 1-1 in the fourth but missed them all and instead it was Rublev who took his first chance to break for a 4-2 lead. The Russian’s first serve had improved considerably from 38% in the first two sets to 70% by the end of set four.
With the clock now passing the three-hour mark, both players entered the deciding set with similar five-set records (12-9 GD, 10-8 AR) with Rublev also having coming through from two sets down against Arthur Rinderknech in the second round. Serving second, he tried to stay in touch but when serving at 1-2 at 30-30 Dimitrov hit a majestic backhand down the line winner to bring up breakpoint and took his chance when Rublev missed his next forehand before consolidating the break.
Dimitrov came into the match with an exceptional statistic of winning 90% of points behind his first serve and had only ever lost a match once from two sets up. Both players raced through their next service games but at 4-2 up and close to victory, Dimitrov double faulted and offered two-breakback points but fought back well to take the crucial game.
Two games later a 129mph body serve brought up his first match point and he served out to love before raising his arms in the air as he settled the contest and levelled their head-to-heads at 4-4.
When reminded that he was the oldest person left in the draw, he replied: “I feel very mature! It’s a battle every single day. Now I think where I’m at, it’s more of my experience. Everyone knows how to play great tennis. It all comes down to a few points here and there and that’s actually what happened today. A couple of points in the fifth set and that’s what was enough to get me over the line. [Serena] gave me a good prep talk yesterday. It’s amazing to play in front of good friends and family.”
Meanwhile on Louis Armstrong Court, home hope Taylor Fritz dropped the first set but recovered impressively and blasted 56 winners as well as 24 aces to overcome former finalist Casper Ruud 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 and now faces the winner of Brandon Nakashima or Alexander Zverev.
After taking the first set comfortably, Ruud seemed to struggle in the humid conditions and double faulted when 4-5 down to gift Fritz the second. The crowd did their best to lift their man as they sensed the momentum shift and from here on, three-time Grand Slam finalist Ruud appeared hampered at times and failed to convert any of his few breakpoint chances, just one from six in the match overall.
Although Fritz came into the match having not lost a set, he did lose to his Norwegian opponent in the fourth round of Roland Garros earlier this year. He clearly found the motivation for revenge and take advantage on his favourite surface and broke early in the third before cruising in the fourth.
“He outplayed me in the first set,” said the American world number twelve afterwards. “I was making a good number of mistakes and getting a bit frustrated. But after that, I feel like his level dropped a little bit. I’m taking it one match at a time, to be honest. I came into the tournament in 2022 and I lost in the first round.”
