12th seeded Grigor Dimitrov defeated world No 22 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-3 7-5 and advanced to the third round of Madrid Masters. The next opponent of Dimitrov is eighth seeded and No 9 ranked Dominic Thiem of Austria. In the two matches played Thiem won in the quarterfinals in Acapulco in 2016 and Dimitrov beat the Austrian in Brisbane at the start of this season.

After 4 consecutive losses Grigor Dimitrov took his first win. At the start of Mutua Madrid Open the 12th seeded Dimitrov defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Gemany 7-6(7) 6-4. This was the first match of Dimitrov and the ex No 16 Kohlschreiber.

In the second round the Bulgarian will face the winner of the match of Ivo Carlovic of Croatia and Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain who are No 22 and No 21 ranked respectively.


On today's Emirates ATP Ranking Grigor Dimitrov moved up to No 12.

Grigor Dimitrov accepted invitation by the organizers of ATP 250 tournament in Marrakech, Morocco, during the week of 10 April 2017. The Bulgarian is the highest ranked player of the main draw and will start from the second round. His opponent will be decided in a match of ex No 5 Tommy Robredo, current rank 386, and a player from the qualifications. The other seeded players are Albert Ramos,Vinolas, No 24, Phillip Kohlschreiber, No 32, Mischa Zverev, No 33, Paolo Lorenzi, No 38, Benoit Paire, No 40, Diego Schrwartzman, No 41 and Marcel Granollers, No 45.

Grigor Dimitrov lifted the trophy of Garanti Koza Sofia Open on home soil. With more than 12'000 fans cheering him Grigor Dimitrov clinched the title with 7-5 6-4 victory over No 11 David Goffin of Belgium. The Bulgarian continues the year in excellent way - 14 wins and 1 loss, 2 titles from 3 tournaments and semifinal at Australian Open.

“This is my most prestigious title for sure, winning it at home is a tremendous success for me,” said the 25 year old, having secured the trophy with his mother watching on from court side. “I will treasure this title for the rest of my life, it’s something amazing for me.”

Dimitrov thanked the spectators: “The crowd has been absolutely magnificent throughout. I’m more than thankful for their support.”

Next week Grigor Dimitrov will move at No 12 at ATP singles ranking right behind of his today's opponent David Goffin and ahead of Tomas Berdych.

Grigor Dimitrov will travel to the Netherlands next week to take part at ATP 500 ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. In the first round Dimitrov will play the quarterfinalist at Australian Open Mischa Zverev of Germany.

Grigor Dimitrov is 3rd seeded player of the main draw of Garanti Koza Sofia Open and will start directly from the second round. His opponent will be determined from the first round match of Jerzy Janowicz of Poland and Dudi Sela of Israel.

In the quarterfinals Dimitrov could meet 6th seed Philipp Kohlschreber of Germany. Grigor is in the upper part of the draw lead by top-seeded player Dominic Thiem of Austria. Dimitrov and Thiem could play in the semifinals.

The second half of the draw is lead by seed 2 David Goffin of Belgium. The other seeded players of that half are the last year's champion Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.

The other Bulgarians who were invited with wild cards to the main draw are Dimitar Kuzmanov and Alexander Lazarov


Grigor Dimitrov first appearance at Sofia Open will be on Thursday.

With points gained for reaching the semifinals at Australian Open Grigor Dimitrov moved two positions from No 15 to No 13 in the ranking of ATP World Tour announced today. The Bulgarian started the new season as No 17. After winning the title in Brisbane he improved to No 15.

The champion of Australian Open Roger Federer returned to number 10. The finalist Rafael Nadal moved from No 9 to No 6. Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are No 1 and No 2. The semifinalist of AO Stan Wawrinka moved to No 3 ahead of Milos Raonic.

The tournaments where Grigor Dimitrov will play until the end of March are in Sofia, Rotterdam, Marseilles, Indian Wells and Miami.

"Dimitrov won. Nadal won. Everyone at RLA won. These kind of matches lift our sport up onto its shoulders. They are a gift we can enjoy every single day of the year." wrote Craig O'Shannessy, Australian Open Expert "It was an epic encounter that could have easily seen Dimitrov finish the victor. In fact, the Bulgarian arguably played the match of his life, but walked away with a loss. Tough loss."

After 5 hours of play Rafael Nadal guaranteed his place in the final after winning in 5 sets6-3 5-7 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 6-4. The Spaniard will flight Roger Federer on Sunday for the trophy of Australian Open.

After this excellent appearance Grigor Dimitrov will be either 12th if Rafael Nadal wins the title or 13th - if Roger Federer wins in the next Monday's ATP Ranking.

The Bulgarian fans of Grigor Dimitrov will not wait long to enjoy more of his brilliant play. Dimitrov will definitelybe the most applauded by the home crowd during Sofia Open in Arena Armeec during the week of 6 February. The other stars of the main draw will be Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, Roberto Bautista Agut, Viktor Troicki, Philipp Kohlscreiber.

Grigor Dimitrov won this 10th match since the beginning of the new season. He dominated No 11 David Goffin of Belgium 6-3 6-2 6-4 on Wednesday morning to reach the semifinals of Australian Open. It will be his second Grand Slam semifinal after Wimbledon in 2014 when he lost to then No 2 Novak Djokovic.


Later today Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic will play in the other quarterfinal which will appoint the rival of Dimitrov in the semifinal on Friday.


After yesterday's quarterfinal matches two Swiss players Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka advanced to the semifinals and will fight for place in the final.

For reaching the semifinals at Australian Open Grigor Dimitrov won 720 ranking points which would move him to at least No 12 in the new ranking.

The third round match of Grigor Dimitrov against No 18 Richard Gasquet started just before midnight local time on Saturday delayed mostly because of the previous matches on Rod Laver Arena including the five set win of Nadal over Zverev. Dimitrov needed about 2 hours to beat the Frenchman Richard Gasquet in straight sets 6-3 6-2 6-4. The Bulgarian fired 48 winners including 11 aces and saved six of the seven break-points he faced. This is the 8th consecutive win of Grigor for the new season.

"Lately I've been struggling with my sleeping and going to bed so late, so this is great," Dimitrov joked. "It's my first win on this court so I'm embracing this moment. Thanks to all the fans who stayed here."

Dimitrov advanced to the second week of Australian Open for the third time. In 2015 he lost to Andy Murray in the 4th round. His best appearance in Melbourne was in 2014 when he beat Milos Raonic and Roberto Bautista-Agut in the third and forth round and lost to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.

On Monday Grigor Dimitrov will play the wild card holder Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. In the only ATP Tour level match the Bulgarian beat Istomin in 2014 at Shanghai Masters.

No 105 Korean Hyeon Chung outplayed Grigor Dimitrov in the first set of the second round in Melbourne and took the set 6-1 within 28 minutes. But the more experienced Grigor Dimitrov restored the order to win 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4.

“That first set, he definitely played lights-out,” Dimitrov said. “I had to be respectful of that, and I was. But as soon as the second set started, I felt confident.”

In the next round Grigor Dimitrov will face a touch opponent - the Frenchman Richard Guasquet, No 18. The result of the matches played so far does not look good for Grigor, Guasquet won 5 while Dimitrov won only the last clash at Shanghai Masters in October 2016.

If Grigor succeeds against Gasquet, he would avoid a match against No 2 Djokovic as the Uzbek player Denis Istomin ousted him in the second round, so the possible opponent of Dimitrov in the 4th round is the winner of Istomin - Carreno Busta match.