Grigor Dimitrov achieved a Grand Slam milestone on Sunday evening at Roland Garros. The Bulgarian defeated Hubert Hurkacz in an all-Top 10 match 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-6(3) to reach his first clay-court major quarterfinal. The 33-year-old has now advanced to the final eight in each of the four Grand Slam tournaments. Dimitrov entered the day 0-2 in fourth-rounders in Paris but advanced to the final eight in his 14th appearance at the French Open. Dimitrov, who will face No.2 Jannik Sinner in tomorrow’s (May 4) quarterfinals, has reached the semifinals of the US Open, Australian Open, and Wimbledon.
Despite a severe fall after diving for a ball deep into the third set, which required treatment for his hand, Dimitrov won in two hours and 51 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. It was a continuation of his dominance over his close friend Hurkacz in the Lexus ATP Head2Head series. He has won all six tour-level matches against the Pole. The Bulgarian improved to 6-0 against Hurkacz.
Dimitrov, the 10th seed, saved all five break points he faced in the first set of Sunday’s fourth-round match in the French city, including three at 5-5, 0/40. After winning the first-set tie-break, the Bulgarian was the more consistent player over the next two sets and appeared to be cruising to victory when he led 3-1 in the third.
Hurkacz, who was also aiming for his maiden quarter-final appearance at Roland Garros, dug deep to force a tie-break but was unable to maintain his momentum. Dimitrov won the first four points of the tie-break, sealing a triumph in which he withstood Hurkacz’s 20 aces.
With his victory, Dimitrov joined Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Daniil Medvedev, and Marin Cilic as the only active players to reach the quarterfinals of all Grand Slam and ATP Masters 1000 events. Dimitrov has had a resurgent season, winning the Brisbane International in January for his first ATP title since 2017, reaching the final of the Miami Open in March, and returning to the top 10 rankings for the first time since 2018.
The French Open was the only Slam I felt like I could never make that extra step, Today, 15 years later, I made it, so I’m happy with that, Dimitrov said after the match. You need to have finesse and also be able to read the court a little bit. Clay courts are always very tricky, you never know what kind of conditions you will get, he added.
