Photo: Associate Press
Best Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov, N11 in the world's top ranking and best Cypriot tennis player Marcos Baghdatis, N78 in the world's top-ranking, will meet on the courts in Melbourne on Friday within the third round of the Australian Open. A curious coincidence is that they both ranked number 8 among men, which is their best ranking.
Grigor Dimitrov has qualified for the third round after a two-hour match against Slovakian Lukas Lacko, winning with 6:3, 6:7 (10), 6:3, 6:3. Marcos Baghdatis has qualified for the third round after a surprising victory over the favourite of the match, Belgian David Goffin, with 6:1, 6:4, 4:6, 6:0.
The match on Friday will be the seventh between the two. So far, Dimitrov has had five victories - the Bulgarian won the three matches on hard courts between them. The Cypriot player won in their only match in the Grand Slam, and in 2012, the player from Haskovo gave up with 5:7, 1:4 during a match of Wimbledon. The last match between them was a year ago in Acapulco, where Dimitrov won with 6:1, 6:4 and subsequently became a champion.
The audience at the courts in Melbourne applauded Grigor Dimitrov and when asked by a journalist how far he wants to go in the tournament, the Bulgarian said, "I am positive and I want to walk the way to the end." Despite the leading position in statistics at present, the 30-year-old Cypriot veteran is not a rival to be underrated, which David Goffin has certainly learnt today.