Grigor Dimitrov booked his place in the Australian Open quarter-finals for the second time in three years on Monday.
The No. 15 seed ended the run of Novak Djokovic’s conqueror, World No. 117 and wild card Denis Istomin, 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-1 in two hours and 24 minutes at Melbourne Park. The Bulgarian remains unbeaten at 9-0 in 2017 – including winning his fifth ATP World Tour title at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp (d. Kei Nishikori).
Dimitrov capitalised on a hot day in Melbourne by striking 37 winners and winning 72 per cent of his approaches to the net against Uzbekistani Istomin, who received medical treatment on several occasions for a back complaint. He will next play Belgian No. 11 seed David Goffin, who beat Austrian eighth seed Dominic Thiem earlier in the day.
”It's going to be a tough match without a doubt," said Dimitrov. "David is an excellent player. In a way I know what to expect from him. We've practised against each other a few times this off-season. And he's a very dangerous player. I just need to be ready mentally and physically for the battle… I think recently he's been serving really well. He served his way out of trouble. I think this is one of his biggest weapons right now. For sure, he's one of the greatest defenders out there.”
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Istomin, the Asia-Pacific wild card play-off winner into the major championship, was brimming with confidence at the start, committing just three unforced errors and dropping five points on serve in the first set. He would have broken early in the second set, but Dimitrov fought back and Istomin began to fatigue.
Istomin, 30, attempted to keep the points short, but his service power diminished and Dimitrov won 12 of the first 13 points in the third set, and then, later, 19 of 22 points to take a 3-0 lead in the fourth set.
The 25-year-old Dimitrov has never lost to a player ranked outside of the Top 100 at a Grand Slam and will now hope to improve upon his 2014 quarter-final run (l. to Rafael Nadal).
“I haven't done anything different in my off-season,” said Dimitrov. “I think I was just very, very composed, and I had a good structure with my team. We were focusing I think on the right things. I've learned a lot of new things about myself, I think, starting to work with Dani [Vallverdu], my coach. It was just nice that he came at a good time, the end of last year. As soon as the off-season was on, it was just very simple. We had quite a few big talks. We discussed what we can do better, what we need to work on, what we need to improve, and how we want to be in 2017.
"I started believing a little bit more in myself. I started the year very well, winning in Brisbane, beating good guys… I feel good right now. At the same time, I am also humbled with the results I have had so far. But now you enter into a different phase of the tournament, so I'm just focused on that.”