Grigor Dimitrov was solid on serve on Friday as he booked his place in the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament semi-finals where he will meet his good friend and hitting partner David Goffin. It will be the first time the pair has met since the title match at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals, which Dimitrov won for the biggest trophy of his career.
Dimitrov booked his place with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 20-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev in 77 minutes on Friday. The World No. 5 lost just eight of his first-service points (37/45) and hit 12 aces. He broke Rublev's serve for a 3-1 lead in the first set and at 3-3 in the second set.
“I think overall the game went well today and I had a high percentage on my first serve,” said Dimitrov. “I think that’s my biggest difference since yesterday, moving better and going for my shots better.”
Afterwards, Dimitrov was soon back on centre court to train with his coach Dani Vallverdu. When asked about playing Goffin on Saturday, the Bulgarian said, “I will approach the match just like any other, having come here early last week to prepare. I’m happy I played today as the conditions suit him, he loves playing indoors. He’s very intelligent all over the court.”
Watch Hot Shot: Rublev's Soft Hands
Earlier in the day, fourth seed and last year’s runner-up Goffin reached an ATP World Tour semi-final for the second straight week (also Open Sud de France in Montpellier) when sixth seed Tomas Berdych, the 2014 champion, pulled out ahead of their quarter-final due to illness. The Czech has been under the weather since Tuesday.
Goffin beat Dimitrov in last year’s quarter-finals at the Rotterdam Ahoy, venue of the ATP World Tour 500 tournament.
Lucky loser Andreas Seppi defeated Daniil Medvedev 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals, where he will confront Roger Federer, who guaranteed that he will regain the top spot in the ATP Rankings on Monday with a win against Robin Haase.
The Italian fell in straight sets against Martin Klizan in the final round of qualifying. But the veteran has found some of his best tennis since getting into the main draw as a lucky loser, eliminating third seed Alexander Zverev in the second round. Federer leads the pair's FedEx ATP Head2Head series 13-1, but Seppi will hope to spring the upset as the World No. 81 pursues his fourth tour-level title.
Marach/Pavic Still Perfect In 2018
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic remain unbeaten in 2018, extending their winning streak to 16 matches with a place in the Rotterdam doubles semi-finals. The second-seeded Austrian-Croatian pair swept past Damir Dzumhur and Filip Krajinovic 6-1, 6-1 in 44 minutes to set up a meeting against fourth seeds and 2015 champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.
Marach and Pavic have won three straight titles at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (d. Murray/Soares), the ASB Classic in Auckland (d. Mirnyi/Oswald) and the Australian Open (d. Cabal/Farah).