UPDATE 4pm: After knocking out world No.13 Milos Raonic in the second round, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov has continued to be the surprise packet of the tournament, knocking out seventh seed Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the Brisbane International.
Despite admitting he didn’t feel 100 per cent on court, the 21-year-old Dimitrov played with experience beyond his years to topple Melzer in less than an hour.
“I’m definitely playing well this tournament, I’ve had a good three matches and I’ve played a couple of doubles matches as well,” he said.
“I feel good on these courts here (in Brisbane) and the conditions actually suit me.”
Relying on his booming serve to get him out of trouble, Dimitrov sent down 17 aces while also converting all three of his break-point chances.
After claiming the first stet 6-4, Dimitrov broke in the fifth game of the second set before closing it out emphatically, winning the final three games of the match to love.
Dimitrov will now meet Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the semifinals on Saturday; the pair have a 1-all head-to-head record with Baghdatis claiming thier last meeting in 2012 at Wimbledon.
“I just want to go out there tomorrow and enjoy, play my game and of course improvise a little bit,” he said.
The win ensures there will be an unseeded finalist from the bottom half of the draw after Baghdatis’s upset of third seed Gilles Simon earlier.