Dimitrov kicked off his Western 7 Southern Open bid by dispatching Feliciano Lopez of in a hard earned 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, win in the second round. Dimitrov had a first-round bye, so he’ll be coming in to his showdown with del Potro with fresher legs.
In defeating Lopez, Dimitrov reaped massive dividends from his terrific service game, placing 70 percent of his first serves in and winning 85 percent of this first serve points. That has to work again in the third round against del Potro, as Lopez only had 57 percent of his first serves in the last time he faced the Argentinian, albeit on a clay court during a Round-of-64 loss at the Rome Masters back in May.
Dimitrov is hoping to do better on the hard court, though. He is 19-6 this year on the said surface. Moreover, he has two hard court wins this season under his belt, having topped tournaments in Sofia and Brisbane earlier this year.
Even though his further away from the top of the ATP rankings than No. 11 Dimitrov, del Potro easily installed as the heavily favored man in this match for one reason: He is 5-0 in his career against Dimitrov.
The 30th-ranked del Potro opened his bid in this tournament with a come-from-behind 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 win over Tomas Berdych before proceeding to kick Mitchell Krueger out of the competition with a 6,4, 6-4 win in the second round.
Now that he’s in the third round, del Potro would try to convert his confidence into a W against Dimitrov, who, whether he admits it or not, must be doubting at least for a little his chances of winning against an opponent that has long owned him. Three of del Potro’s career victories against Dimitrov happened on hard courts.
del Potro has won at least put 69 percent of his first serves in in each of his past two matches in this tournament.
Writer’s Prediction
del Potro makes it six straight over Dimitrov with a victory.
