Grigor Dimitrov left Australian Open after 5 set defeat by world No 10 Nicolas Almagro of Spain. The match lasted 3 hours 29 minutes and Grigor took the lead in sets twice. Before the last set Grigor left the court for medical timeout for pains in his right leg. Dimitrov was not able to respond as in theprovisossets and lost it 0-6. This way this spectacular match was taken by Almagro 4-6 6-3 6-7(4) 6-4 6-0.

The Bulgarian gained 33'300 dollars for his participation and 45 ranking points which will not cover the 70 point of last year which lead to losing of several ranking positions after the end of Australian Open. Dimitrov is the player's list of a series of tournaments in the USA from 13 February on.

Grigor Dimitrov started with success at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. He needed more than 3 hours to defeat the Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-4 making the head-to-head score 1-1. In the first round match between Dimitrov and Chardy at last year's Roland Garros it was Chardy who reached the success. It was only the second time in his career when Dimitrov plays 5-sets match.

For passing to the second round Dimitrov added 45 points but he needs to defend 70 ranking points from his last year participation at Australian Open. Grigor Dimitrov moved to No 78 in the ATP Ranking announced today.

In the second round Grigor Dimitrov will play No 10 Nicolas Almagro of Spain. Earlier today Amlagro defeated the Pole Lukasz Kubot 1-6 7-5 6-3 7-5.

Grigor Dimitrov defeated the Estonian Jurgen Zopp 6-1 6-7(6) 6-2 in the first round of the qualifications of the ATP 250 tournament in Sydney, Australia on Saturday morning. Two hours later he started the second round match against the Australian wild card holder Adam Feeney but retired and left the tournament. It was too tiring for Grigor to play the 4th match within 20 hours and after 3300 km/5 hour flight from Perth to Sydney.

The young Bulgarian will have one week to recover and better prepare for the main draw matches of the Australian Open which will start from 16 January in Melbourne.

Grigor Dimitrov demonstrated his talent at 100% in the men's single match of the Bulgaria - USA tie at Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia. The young Bulgarian scored his first win over Top 10 player by convincingly defeating No 8 Mardy Fish 6-2 6-1 within 1 hour. Earlier today Tsvetana Pironkova lost to Bethanie Mattek-Sands 4-6, 4-6. Before the doubles match which will start in a while the result of the tie is 1-1. It is Czech Republic who guaranteed the top position of the Group A and will play at the final on Sunday after winning over Denmark with both Kvitova and Berdych defeating Wozniacki and Nielsen respectively.

Immediately after the doubles match with Pironkova vs Fish/Mattek-Sands, Grigor Dimitrov will leave for Sydney where he will start as Seed 5 of the qualification tournament on Saturday. Dimitrov will play the Estonian Jurgen Zopp in the first round. The matches of the second round of the qualifications are in the afternoon of Saturday.

In the first tie of Bulgaria vs Czech Republic at Hopman Cup in Perth, Autralia, Grigor Dimitrov and Tsvetana Pironkova lost their single matches and won the doubles match against world No 7 Tomas Berdych and No 2 Petra Kvitova. In the first match Kvitova defeated Pironkova with a score of 6-4 6-2. Grigor Dimitrov succeeded to take a set but ultimately lost to Tomas Berdych 4-6 7-6(9) 3-6. Then in the third match the Bulgarian pair reached the success over Czech Republic 6-2 3-6 11-9.

Berdych started the match with strong services and powerful play with forehands and backhands and succeeded to break Dimitrov's game when the result was 2-1. This way the Czech took the first set 6-4. Grigor Dimitrov succeeded to break in the second set to reach a lead of 5-3 but Berdych bounced back and sent the set to tie-break. Dimitrov raced to 4-1 advantage in the tie-break but the experienced Czech won the next 3 points. The 20-years-old Bulgarian held his nerve very well and clinched the tie-break 11-9. In the third set Berdych proved too strong and took the set 6-3 and the match and sealed the win of Czech Republic in the tie.

"He (Dimitrov) is playing really well, he’s going to be improving and he’s improving in the last couple of months but he’s going to be really dangerous this year and as he just showed right now he can play really well. I’m pretty happy to start the year with a win," said Berdych.

The next tie of Bulgaria is vs Denmark represented by No 1 Caroline Wozniacki and No 236 Frederik Nielsen. The matches start at 2:30 AM CET on Wednesday. Bulgarian National TV (www.bnt.bg) live broadcasts the matches.