Dimitrov gets one back at Jaziri in Barcelona for Dubai defeat
World No 5 Grigor Dimitrov earned revenge for his defeat in Dubai to Malek Jaziri by beating the Tunisian in a closely-fought contest at the Barcelona Open yesterday.
Dimitrov, 26, saved two match points against world No 88 Jaziri on his way to a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 victory to reach the quarter-finals. Dimitrov lost his only other meeting with Jaziri, at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February.
While Dimitrov was pushed all the way for his win, top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal had a much easier outing, defeating fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1 6-3 for a record-extending 40th consecutive set on clay.
Fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 in another thrilling three-setter that had fans on the Rafael Nadal court watching the world No 1 turning their heads towards the action unfolding on the adjacent Court 1.
After blitzing the first set world No 11 Carreno Busta succumbed in the second and survived a match point to take a delicately-poised tiebreak.
Jaziri, ranked No 88 in the world, hit back against Dimitrov after surrendering the first set to comfortably take the second and he looked poised to cause the latest high-profile exit in Barcelona when he went 4-2 up against the second seed in the third.
Former world No 1 Novak Djokovic had been sent packing from the tournament the day before by Martin Klizan while Kei Nishikori was forced to retire during his match against Garcia-Lopez due to a wrist injury.
Jaziri took a few moments out on the sidelines after experiencing discomfort with his shoulder and consulted his coach and doctor before continuing. Bulgarian Dimitrov came back to level at 5-5 but was under pressure in the 12th game, before holding on to force the tiebreak.
Dimitrov spurned two match points in the tie-break and missed another chance to close out the match two points later when his shot landed just wide.
It was Jaziri’s turn to serve for the match at 8-7 but he sent a shot crashing wide under little pressure.
Dimitrov finally ended Jaziri’s resistance on his fourth match point when the Tunisian found the net to end a match lasting two hours and 49 minutes.
After both saving match points, Dimitrov and Carreno Busta will now meet in the quarter-finals.
Klizan beat Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals to set up a meeting with Nadal.
Last year’s runner-up Dominic Thiem also made the last eight, beating Jozef Kovalik 7-6, 6-2 and will meet Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last eight after his 6-4, 7-5 win over Spaniard Albert Ramos Vinolas.
Jaziri took a few moments out to consult his coach and doctor after experiencing discomfort with his shoulder