The 11th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov will head to the Wimbledon fresh off his appearance at the Queen’s Club Championships. He gave some good performances in the tournament before falling to Feliciano Lopez in the semifinals in a hard-fought, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 defeat.
Tomorrow’s encounter can be regarded as a rubber match, as they split the first two meetings. Dimitrov was the most recent winner, and in the process, served a nice revenge. He last met Schwartzman last year at the Chengdu Open, where he scored a come-from-behind, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Dimitrov is 24-11 overall this season, and also has a respectable 31-21 career record on grass-held tournaments. He should have a more comfortable style of play now that he has a win over the lower-ranked Schwarztman and doesn’t have that pressure of getting upset back-to-back.
World no. 37 Diego Schwartzman’s consistently inconsistent run is currently on the uglier side of things, as he will enter the Wimbledon Round of 128s having lost four of his last six. He also got booted out in the first round in two of his last three tournaments.
If you are still a Schwartzman believer, though, there are some tiny redeeming qualities that can help boost your confidence. Despite his current awful stretch, he’s still above the .500 mark on the season (17-16), and more importantly, he has a win against his heavily-favored foe. In their first meeting in 2016 at the Istanbul Open, he gave the Dimitrov all he can handle, as he outlasted the Bulgarian with a strong 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-0 victory.
Mixing all the recent string of losses and record on the grass (0-5) and elite-ranked opponents along with his noteworthy win over Dimitrov just a year ago, the best you can assume is he will be able to steal a set.
