Grigor Dimitrov Outlasts Stan Wawrinka to Reach Mexican Open 2020 Semifinals

Seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov continued his run at the Mexican Open 2020, defeating the No.3 seed Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday for his second semi-final in Acapulco. With this victory, Dimitrov improved to 11-2 at this event and also kept alive his hopes of winning his second Acapulco Open title.

Grigor Dimitrov broke twice to win the first set

Dimitrov went off to a flying start to the match as he raced to a 3-1 lead with a break. However, Wawrinka neutralized the lead as he found his range back, breaking Dimitrov 3-3. The Bulgarian star broke back in the next game before saving a break point to hold a nervous service game at 5-3. He then served out the set 6-4 in just 45 minutes.

While Stan Wawrinka hit 10 winners in the opening set, Dimitrov managed to hit 6 winners. On the other hand, the 34-year-old committed 16 unforced errors against Grigor’s 8.

Dimitrov seals the match with a straight-set victory

Both the players remain even until the 5th game of the second set when Wawrinka lost concentration and Dimitrov broke his serve to love for the third time in the match. The Bulgarian used perfectly placed first serves to set up his groundstrokes and take control of the rallies.

He saved a break point in his next service game and also raced to a 40-0 lead, aiming to get a two break lead in the set. However, the 3-time Grand Slam champion refused to go away quietly as he denied his opponent all the three break points and held his serve to stay in the match at 3-4. The seventh seed, however, did not lose his path as he served out the match after 1 hour and 25 minutes, winning the second set 6-4.

The 28-year-old narrowed down his head-to-head series with Wawrinka to 7-5. This is also his first win over the Swiss star after the last five encounters between them. He awaits the winner of top seed Rafael Nadal and Soonwoo Kwon.