Wawrinka. Out! Nadal. Out! Dimitrov. Out! Gilles Muller will play the winner of Andy Murray’s match against Fernando Verdasco in the last eight. Thanks for reading. Bye.
Gilles Muller wins 6-4, 7-6!
Second-set tie-break: Muller* 7-5 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Muller doesn’t win it with an ace. He misses his first serve. But it doesn’t matter. Dimitrov’s return is short and inviting and a superbly disguised forehand from left to right from Muller is enough to topple the defending champion, literally and figuratively - Dimitrov’s feet gave way as that shot bounced out of his grasp.
Updated
Second-set tie-break: Muller 6-5 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Dimitrov saves the first with a big serve. But Muller has a serve.
Second-set tie-break: Muller 6-4 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Dimitrov cannot afford to lose this point. He loses it. Muller swings at a forehand and sends it gloriously down the line to earn two match points!
Updated
Second-set tie-break: Muller* 5-4 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Dimitrov can only knock a forehand return wide.
Second-set tie-break: Muller* 4-4 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Muller curves an ace down the middle. He survives a challenge from Dimitrov.
Second-set tie-break: Muller 3-4 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Dimitrov hangs on. Muller nets a tense backhand.
Second-set tie-break: Muller 3-3 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Dimitrov sends a stinker of a forehand wide. The mini-break is eroded.
Second-set tie-break: Muller* 2-3 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Ace.
Second-set tie-break: Muller* 1-3 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Muller comes up with a big serve.
Second-set tie-break: Muller 0-3 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Muller clunks a backhand return well wide. “Come on!” barks Dimitrov.
Second-set tie-break: Muller 0-2 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Muller wafts a defensive slice long.
Second-set tie-break: Muller* 0-1 Dimitrov (*denotes server): After all those aces, Muller starts the tie-break with a double fault. What are the odds?
Second set: Muller 6-4, 6-6 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): For the second time, Dimitrov serves to stay in the match. He passes the test with flying colours. Both players are hitting aces, so this tie-break is hard to call.
Second set: Muller* 6-4, 6-5 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Muller scorches more aces past Dimitrov. He’s dropped three points on serve in this set and has secured himself a tie-break at least.
Second set: Muller 6-4, 5-5 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Dimitrov skitters and almost tumbles as he attempts to play a high slice. It’s all very ungainly. He balloons his shot and it’s 15-all. Then he nets a backhand to make it 30-all. Two more points like that and he’s out. Just as well, then, that he plays two good points to keep himself in with a shout.
Second set: Muller* 6-4, 5-4 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Roger Rasheed is furiously chewing his gum now. The tension is getting to Dimitrov’s coach. His player has to hold in the upcoming game or the defence of his title will meet a sorry end.
Second set: Muller 6-4, 4-4 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Dimitrov’s focus is admirable in this game. One false move now and he’s out of the tournament, but he doesn’t buckle here, his serve zipping past Muller, who’s forced to gulp down some of his own medicine.
Second set: Muller* 6-4, 4-3 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Muller can slice a serve out wide, he can bang one down the middle, he can jam you; it’s a nightmare to counter. Dimitrov is straining but to no avail.
Second set: Muller 6-4, 3-3 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): You can’t help but be impressed with the level of the serving on display.
Second set: Muller* 6-4, 3-2 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Muller should have an ace-off with Kevin Anderson.
Second set: Muller 6-4, 2-2 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Dimitrov is in trouble when he sneezes a forehand into the net and then double-faults to make it 0-30. His no-nonsense coach, Roger Rasheed, looks unimpressed with this nonsense from his charge; more impressed when he steadies himself with two excellent serve; less impressed when Muller earns a break point with a wonderful forehand that wrongfooted Dimitrov; more impressed when Dimitrov cuffs a superb backhand pass down the line for deuce. That’s enough semi-colons for now. Dimitrov’s serve clicks into gear and he holds, to his considerable relief.
Updated
Second set: Muller* 6-4, 2-1 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Muller serves like, er, Muller. That was awesome serving. This is going to be tough for Dimitrov.
Second set: Muller 6-4, 1-1 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Dimitrov serves like Muller.
Second set: Muller* 6-4, 1-0 Dimitrov (*denotes server): As Wawrinka discovered against Anderson yesterday, it can be very hard to play against this type of player if they’re serving this well, especially on a slick grass court. It’s difficult to build up any kind of rhythm. He holds to love.
Gilles Muller wins the first set 6-4!
Muller is pressing. At 30-15, a beautiful deep slice is too low for Dimitrov. Is the scoreboard pressure getting to Dimitrov? Maybe. He loses focus and double-faults, handing Muller an improbable set point. They rally. It’s cautious. Dimitrov is playing within himself and Muller is doing no more than getting the ball back over the net, waiting for Dimitrov to grow impatient. The ploy works. Dimitrov spanks a poor forehand wide and Muller is rewarded for his ruthlessness! The defending champion is a set down.
First set: Muller* 5-4 Dimitrov (*denotes server): If you’re 0-15 down at this point of the set, the ability to come up with three aces is an enviable skill. Dimitrov will serve to stay in the first set.
First set: Muller 4-4 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Then again, the prospect of Muller breaking doesn’t seem so implausible when Dimitrov sends two forehands wide and finds himself trailing 15-30. Dimitrov closes the door, though. The boy can serve. He can ace.
First set: Muller* 4-3 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Muller is a skilled proponent of the serve-volley game, a tactic which often seems like an ancient relic in this era of baseline grind and racquets which allow players to put a tricky amount of topspin on their shots, and it can be awkward to play against because it is so unusual. It can leave him vulnerable, too, given the ability of the top players to pass those who are brave enough to come to the net, and he starts this game by dumping an awkward volley wide, Dimitrov drawing the error with a well-placed backhand. But soon his volleying game is grooving along nicely and his serve is thudding down fiercely; he wins the next four points and keeps Dimitrov waiting. A few more holds and Muller has his tie-break. Unless, of course, he can pull off the unthinkable and break Dimitrov.
First set: Muller 3-3 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Muller is making little impression on Dimitrov’s fiendish serve. The Bulgarian holds to love again. I fancy him to break Muller at some point and that should be enough for him to win the set.
First set: Muller* 3-2 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Muller’s fifth ace guides him to a stress-free hold. That was a far easier ride than his previous service game.
First set: Muller 2-2 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): There’s an audible gasp of appreciation from the crowd as Dimitrov, running backwards, serenely guides a forehand winner into the left corner for a 15-0 lead. It’s in those moments where you see why he has been held up as Federer’s heir. Dimitrov holds comfortably. As long as he can avoid a tie-break, it’s hard to see how he loses this set.
First set: Muller* 2-1 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Dimitrov wins the first point against serve at 15-0, whipping a forehand down the line, finishing off the rally when Muller flails at a volley. But Muller isn’t thrown off course and the aces continue to flow. He lopes into a 40-30 lead. Yet Dimitrov is starting to see the serve, a fine backhand return taking him to deuce, before another sublime backhand winner ekes out the first break point. Muller holds him off with a big serve, but another stunner of a backhand winner that kisses the line by an inch - it was called out, but Hawkeye said otherwise, the machines always win, they will rule the human race eventually - earns Dimitrov a second break point. Muller relies on his serve to get him out of trouble but Dimitrov’s backhand is singing a pretty tune. An exquisite passing shot brings up his third break point. Muller’s response? Ace. He squirms out of Dimitrov’s clutches and holds. Dimitrov will be frustrated not to have broken - but encouraged, too, that he was able to penetrate Muller’s serve so effectively. That will put doubt in Muller’s mind.
First set: Muller 1-1 Dimitrov* (*denotes server): Oof. Muller has a wild swing at a Dimitrov serve and completely misses it. The ball flies past his racquet and crashes into a line judge’s neck. He wasn’t expecting that. Luckily he’s not hurt and the game continues unhindered, Dimitrov holding to love.
First set: Muller* 1-0 Dimitrov (*denotes server): Yesterday Kevin Anderson aced Stan Wawrinka out of the tournament. Will Muller do the same to Dimitrov today? He gets off to an ominous flying start, clattering two aces down Dimitrov’s throat. Dimitrov doesn’t get a ball back into play.
Gilles Muller wins the toss and elects to serve.
Here come the players. The sky is blue, the clouds are few and it’s another hot day in London.
Preamble
Hello. I believe it was me who said that Grigor Dimitrov’s “class will tell eventually” in the grand slams after his hopes of reaching his first Wimbledon final had been cruelly dashed in four tight sets by Novak Djokovic. Shows what I know! Since then, the man who was once known as Baby Fed has lost in the fourth round of the US Open, the fourth round of the Australian Open and the first round of the French Open, rather dampening predictions that he represented the greatest threat to the Big Four’s hegemony at the top of the sport. Stan Wawrinka has made the breakthrough but we are still waiting for Dimitrov to make the leap from gifted pretender to thoroughbred contender.
He is 24 now, no longer a callow youth who can no longer be spoken of simply in terms of potential and promise, and he still has to prove that he can cash in the serene artistry of his tennis for the ultimate prizes. When you are as proficient a player as Dimitrov, it is not enough just to look good on the court; you have to win; he has a duty to win, both to himself and to the sport. The question mark that hovers over him is whether his game translates well to hard courts and clay in five-set matches. Losing to Jack Sock in the first round at Roland Garros last month suggests not.
Yet it could be a different story for Dimitrov on grass. His destruction of a frazzled Andy Murray at Wimbledon last year, which was followed by an inspired but ultimately fruitless performance in his semi-final against Djokovic, who had to save three set points in the fourth-set tie-break, was a demonstration of the Bulgarian’s bulging class. He lost to Dimitrov but there was a hint of things to come on grass. He had already won Queen’s for the first time, after all. The defending champion looked determined to hold on to his title in a tough first-round match against Sam Querrey and today he faces another big server, the Luxembourg leftie, Gilles Muller. These two have only met once. Muller beat Dimitrov on a Rotterdam hard court in straight sets in February. Dimitrov beat Muller in straight sets at Queen’s three years ago.
Play begins at: 12.30pm.
