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Dimitrov, a 30-year-old Bulgarian who is seeded 23rd, trailed by
a set and two service breaks before pulling off a stunning
turnaround. Dimitrov won the last five games of the second set
and the first three games of the third set.
The 2-hour, 16-minute triumph marked the first time Dimitrov
defeated a player ranked first or second in the world in five
years.
"He is such a tough player and competitor," Dimitrov said of
Medvedev. "Over the past year, I have played him a few times and
haven't been able to find a way. But today, I just felt
something at 1-4 (in the second set) and I calmed myself down
and started to take better decisions and started to control the
pace of the game, which I really believed helped me.
"In the end it was just very solid and smart play."
Medvedev said of Dimitrov, "He definitely flipped the switch. If
he plays like this like he did starting from 4-1, he's going to
win the tournament."
Medvedev wound up putting just 54 percent of his first serves in
play while Dimitrov was at 80 percent for the match.
Next up for Dimitrov is a quarterfinal matchup with Hubert
Hurkacz. The eighth-seeded Pole blasted 19th-seeded Russian
Aslan Karatsev 6-1, 6-3.
Two more of the top 10 seeds fell Wednesday.
Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, the 11th seed, knocked off
sixth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway 6-3, 6-3, and 31st-seeded
Taylor Fritz, a Southern California native, beat 10th-seeded
Italian Jannik Sinner 6-4, 6-3.
Second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece rallied from a
one-set deficit for the second match in a row, defeating
22nd-seeded Alex De Minaur of Australia 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Tsitsipas won the first four points of the second-set
tiebreaker, and he never faced a break point in the third set.
Tsitsipas will square off Friday with Georgia's Nikoloz
Basilashvili, who got past 24th-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia
6-4, 7-6 (6).
Schwartzman's quarterfinal opponent will be Great Britain's
Cameron Norrie, who topped the United States' Tommy Paul 6-4,
4-6, 6-2.
Third-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany set a quarterfinal date
with Fritz by beating 14th-seeded Gael Monfils of France 6-1,
6-3 in just over an hour.
--Field Level Media
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