Another victory for Greece over Bulgaria in United Cup held in Perth, Australia and… 2-0.
It was Team Greece star Tsitsipas who found something extra to clinch victory at RAC Arena, however, as he dug deep for a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) victory to give his nation a 2-0 lead in the Group A tie.
[There was] a lot of drama,” said Tsitsipas in Team Greece’s post-match press conference. “Both of us I think were serving extremely well during the course of the entire match. There weren't a lot of moments that I felt like I could do something except the second set, which went really smoothly from my side.”Dimitrov went toe-to-toe throughout the two-hour, 10-minute encounter with Tsitsipas, producing some sharp returning en route to the first set against Team Greece’s ATP World No. 4. After Tsitsipas found his range to surge to the second, his big serve ultimately proved decisive in the closing stages as he capped a nailbiting win in the deciding-set tie-break.
“Grigor gave an unforced error from the first point of the tiebreaker,” said Tsitsipas. “I knew that this was my moment to really go for it. I tried to suppress all emotions. I tried to stay within the moment, let any negative thoughts out of my head, and I continued and cruised from that point onwards.”
It was 24-year-old Tsitsipas’ 250th tour-level win. The Greek was particularly cool under pressure in the final set, when Dimitrov’s controlled aggression carved out three break points, including two when trailing 3-4. Tsitsipas saved them all before charging to what proved to be an unassailable 5/2 lead in the tie-break as he extended his ATP Head2Head record against Dimitrov to 6-1.
