By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday February 28, 2020
Grigor Dimitrov played outplayed Stan Wawrinka and snapped a personal five-match losing streak against the Swiss on Thursday in Acapulco.
Photo Source: Guillermo Sanchez
Grigor Dimitrov snapped a personal five-match losing streak against Stan Wawrinka, surging past the Swiss and into a semi-final showdown with Rafael Nadal.
Dimitrov, who saved two match points to defeat Adrian Mannarino on Wednesday, needed no such drama to take down Wawrinka on Thursday as he rolled to a relatively uncomplicated 6-4 6-4 victory.
“I’ve played quite a few times against Stan,” Dimitrov said. “I think between us it is mainly, I would say, a mental battle.”
Dimitrov was the better player throughout and he says that taking five losses in succession in a little over a year against Wawrinka inspired him in a strange way.
“Last year when I lost five times against him, it was something that inspired me. Those losses helped me, I would say,” Dimitrov said. “All I wanted to do was come out and play and fight.”
Dimitrov surrendered just one break and was able to weather all the storms that Wawrinka could send his way.
“In the tough moment I was very strong, came up with the goods,” Dimitrov said. The Bulgarian’s victory sets up a semi-final with two-time champion Rafael Nadal. Nadal was tested sporadically in his late-night quarterfinal with South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon, but the Spaniard was in such good form that it didn’t seem to matter much.
Nadal saved all eight break points he faced and finished off the match in 91 minutes to improve to 18-2 lifetime at Acapulco. The Spaniard has never won the title on hard courts in Mexico—his previous two titles, in 2005 and 2013 came when the event was staged on clay.
In the early semifinals a pair of American set a clash for a spot in the final as John Isner beat Tommy Paul 7-6(3) 3-6 6-2 and Taylor Fritz reached his first 500-level semifinal with a 6-4 6-3 win over Kyle Edmund.