Bulgarian back in US Open quarters for first time since 2019
©Corinne Dubreuil / FFTR&B superstar Alicia Keys and good friend Serena Williams were both on their feet, cheering on Grigor Dimitrov as he staved off a comeback attempt from Andrey Rublev to advance to his first US Open quarter-final since 2019.
In the first all-top-10 showdown in men’s singles at this US Open, ninth-seeded Dimitrov took the opening two sets before sixth-seeded Rublev retaliated and levelled the contest, forcing a decisive fifth.
“I think after the first couple of sets he started playing amazing,” said Dimitrov.
“There's not much else I could have done, so I had to pull the reins back a little bit and wait for an opportunity. I knew eventually I might get one. It happened in the fifth.”
The opportunity came in the fourth game of the decider when the Bulgarian unleashed a signature down-the-line backhand winner to create a break point and drew the forehand error from Rublev in the next point to claim a 3-1 advantage.
It was all he needed to secure a 6-3, 7-6(3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory and move into his second Grand Slam quarter-final of the season – a feat he last achieved 10 years ago.
While many could get nervous playing in front of an all-time great like Williams, Dimitrov was just happy to have his long-time friend supporting him from the stands.
“She gave me a good pep talk yesterday. I’m thrilled, it’s amazing honestly to play in front of you guys, in front of good friends and family. All in all it’s a tremendous atmosphere,” he said during his on-court interview.
A former world No.3 and three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist, Dimitrov returned to the top 10 in April this year, for the first time since 2018.
Now 33 years old, Dimitrov has been emphasising the enjoyment aspect of his job, making sure he appreciates every opportunity he gets to compete on a tennis court.
“I just want to live my dream. That's all I'm doing right now,” he said on Sunday.
“I think tennis overall, it's just a moment. We have a window. I'm 15 years on tour, and it feels like it just went very quick. It goes quicker and quicker every single year because, let's face it, I'm closer to the end than the beginning. So that makes you appreciate even more the times that you get to do that, and winning those matches at that point now and all the mental battles that you need to win first within yourself and then things are easier outside.”
Next up for Dimitrov is 2022 US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe, who knocked out Novak Djokovic’s conqueror Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3.
Through to a third consecutive US Open quarter-final, Tiafoe met Williams before his match and revealed some heartwarming words shared between them.
“For her wanting to come out and talk to me before the match, telling me she's always following no matter what, telling me ‘It's so good to see now that I'm done, you're the guy of colour playing and doing well’,” said Tiafoe.
“Coming from her, that's a loud sentence. I'm, like, damn. That's really, really cool that she sees me as that.
“Her telling me she just wants nothing but the best for me, giving me some game right before the match, how are you feeling, where you at?
“It was really cool to have her want to talk to me before a match and really say she wants me to do this thing and that I'm capable of doing it. It coming from her, it's just so loud. I don't think it will hit me like that if anybody else said it to me.”
©Corinne Dubreuil / FFTFacing Coco Gauff in the fourth round for a second consecutive Grand Slam, Emma Navarro once again dismissed her fellow American to reach a maiden US Open quarter-final.
Navarro ended Gauff’s title defence in New York with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 result, to book a last-eight showdown with former world No.2 Paula Badosa.
The 23-year-old Navarro was 1-3 at the majors before this season but since the start of 2024 has reached the third round at the Australian Open, fourth round at Roland-Garros, and now back-to-back quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open.
She has enjoyed a remarkable rise since she turned pro following her sophomore year at University of Virginia in June 2022, rising to her current career-high of No.12 in the world with the possibility of cracking the top 10 at the end of this US Open (depending on other results).
“I definitely surpassed some expectations for sure. When I first left college, my coach (Peter Ayers) and I made like a two-year contract that I would fully commit myself to playing professional tennis for two years and then kind of just reassess after that,” said the 2021 NCAA champion.
“I think I hit the two-year mark this June, and we didn't even acknowledge it or talk about it,” she added with a laugh.
Navarro’s clash with Gauff was her first experience on Arthur Ashe stadium – the biggest arena on the professional tennis circuit – and while she expected to feel overwhelmed by its magnitude, she instead felt comfortable and ready for battle.
“I believe that I can play tennis with the best players in the world. I deserve to be on this stage and, yeah, I belong in these rounds of Grand Slams and I can make deep runs,” she declared on Sunday.
Badosa reached her first US Open quarter-final with a smooth 6-1, 6-2 success against China’s Wang Yafan.
The New York-born Spaniard is looking forward to making her Arthur Ashe stadium debut against Navarro in the last eight.
“It's going to be my first time on Ashe, so I never played that. It's going to be my first time in a quarter-finals, also, so it's an experience for me. I like these kind of challenges. I was born to play on big stages, and I'm really looking forward for that,” said the 26-year-old Badosa.
American No.12 seed Taylor Fritz reached his third Grand Slam quarter-final of the season with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 effort against 2022 finalist Casper Ruud.
His reward is a last-eight clash with No.4 seed Alexander Zverev, who lost to Fritz in the Wimbledon fourth round in July.
Fritz is the first American man to reach three major quarter-finals in the same season since Andy Roddick in 2007.
“I went into the US Open 2022 saying I think that I'm a contender and I can win it, and I lost first round,” said Fritz, who hasn’t won any of the four Grand Slam quarter-finals he has made prior to this fortnight.
“So obviously the draw, it's impossible to not know that there's more of an opportunity with how the draw has opened up. It's still the same as it's been for me. Take it one match at a time. Worry about the person that's in front of me, and we'll go from there.
“The success in Slams has been nice, but I am a little bit sick of just making it to the quarter-finals, and I definitely want to go further.”
Meanwhile, Zverev advanced to the 13th Slam quarter-final of his career with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 result against American Brandon Nakashima.
Gauff fired 60 unforced errors, including 19 double faults in her three-set defeat to Navarro on Sunday.
The 2023 US Open champion said she is open to
Dimitrov posted the 450th tour-level victory of his career with his triumph over Rublev, and has become the first player born in the 1990s to earn 300 hard-court wins.
Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka eased past former doubles partner Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-4 to reach the US Open quarter-finals for a fourth consecutive year. The last woman to achieve that feat was Serena Williams in 2016.
In a repeat of the gold medal contest from the Paris Olympics four weeks ago, Zheng Qinwen defeated Donna Vekic 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-2 in a fourth-round clash that broke the record for the latest ever finish for a women's match at the US Open, concluding at 2:15am.
“I guess for me, yeah, it's not the summer that I want. I feel like there's, like, 70 other players in the draw that would love to have the summer that I had even though it's my least probably done well during this time of the year. So many people want to be in the fourth round. So many people want to make the Olympics. So many people want to be flag-bearer. It's perspective.
“Obviously because I'm wanting to reach a different level, it is disappointing, but I'm not going to beat myself up and be, like, this was so bad. Yeah, I expect better, but at the end of the day it happened, and I know I can turn it around.”
– Gauff has a healthy perspective when it comes to her results this summer
ROLAND-GARROS
19 May - 8 June 2025
