By Karl Plume
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov dashed a furious comeback by sixth seed Andrey Rublev to reach the U.S. Open quarter-finals for the first time since 2019 with a 6-3 7-6(3) 1-6 3-6 6-3 victory on Sunday.
The ninth seed won 80% of his first-serve points and fired 17 aces to frustrate the fiery Russian, who slammed his racket against the Arthur Ashe Stadium hard court and his own body, which resulted in a cut wrist that required medical attention during the first set.
The evenly matched bout swung the Bulgarian’s way in the decisive fifth set to the delight of the New York crowd, which included Serena Williams sipping the event’s signature honey deuce cocktail.
Rublev’s frustration spilled over when he started the fourth game of the first set with two double faults, and he blasted a forehand into the net and another wide for Dimitrov’s first break of the match.
Dimitrov looked to be in the driver’s seat after he claimed the final five points of a second-set tiebreak, only to see the Russian battle back to tie the bout by seizing the next two sets.
A fourth game break in the final frame gave Dimitrov an edge he would not surrender, setting up a quarter-final meeting with either American Frances Tiafoe or Australia’s Alexei Popyrin.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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