By Chris Oddo | Saturday August 19, 2017
The wait is over for Grigor Dimitrov. And the momentum is high.
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The 26-year-old has broken through to his first Masters 1000 final on his 49th attempt by defeating John Isner, 7-6(4), 7-6(10) in the semifinals at the Western and Southern Open.
The Bulgarian didn’t manage a break of serve, and didn’t even sniff a break point until the final game of the second set. Isner smashed a 135 MPH service winner to save that break point but the American could not solve Dimitrov in the tiebreakers.
Isner did have three set points in an entertaining second-set breaker but the American could not find a way to convert with Dimitrov serving on all three of them. Dimitrov saved the third with a backhand down-the-line winner and converted his fourth match point when Isner netted a forehand.
It was Isner’s 18th loss in a match where he did not surrender a break point. The American drops to 12-2 since Wimbledon with the loss.
Dimitrov will face either Nick Kyrgios or David Ferrer in the final. Sunday’s champion, regardless of result, will be the third non-Big 4 Masters 1000 champion of the season, which is the most since 2010 when Ivan Ljubicic (Indian Wells), Andy Roddick (Miami) and Robin Soderling (Paris) all won Masters 1000 crowns.
Dimitrov improves to 33-14 on the season, but he has reached his best form since starting the campaign at 16-1.