Dramatic match point sends Dimitrov past De Minaur into Rotterdam semifinals

Grigor Dimitrov saved two match points and then converted an amazing match point of his own to beat Alex de Minaur 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6) in the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Friday afternoon.

De Minaur led by a break early in the third set and also had one match point on his own serve at 6-4 in the tiebreaker, but he could not get across the finish line. Dimitrov took the last four points of the contest, including the clincher with an amazing forehand pass to conclude a wild exchange with the Bulgarian at the baseline and the Aussie up at net.

“When you have those Hawkeyes sometimes you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Dimitrov said. “You don’t know which shot is going to come in. When I hit it, it felt really [good]. I wasn’t sure if it caught the line. Until it was confirmed I didn’t want to shake his hand.

“I’m very thankful; I’ve been putting in a lot of work–practicing a lot for the last three weeks. It’s nice when things go your way. I fought my heart out ’til the end. You never know what’s going to happen…. In matches like that you just gotta stay in it–against him, especially, a little bit more. He’s one of the greatest competitors out there and one of the fastest guys. So It’s also tricky for me. I like those types of matches. I like to test myself.”

The 31-year-old will try to keep his Rotterdam run going against Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals on Saturday. Medvedev improved to 5-0 lifetime against Felix Auger-Aliassime with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.

Medvedev leads the head-to-head series with Dimitrov 4-2 after most recently prevailing 6-4, 6-2 last fall in Vienna.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.