The former world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov begins his Sofia Open campaign with a tricky test as he faces the Belarusian star Ilya Ivashka in the round of 16.
Grigor Dimitrov
The 31-year-old began the season on a decent note with some memorable performances. He reached the semi-finals in Melbourne, where he was ousted by Maxime Cressy. After crashing out in the second round at the Australian Open, Dimitrov made it to the quarter-finals in the Delray Beach Open. He made it to the quarter-finals in the Indian Wells Masters and the semi-finals of the Monte-Carlos Masters but since then, the rub of the green has not gone Dimitrov’s way.
Dimitrov has failed to progress beyond the round of 16 in the last 11 tournaments he has participated in. He is coming into the Sofia Open on the back of a second-round defeat at the US Open against Brandon Nakashima.
Ilya Ivashka
Unlike Dimitrov, most of Ivashka’s better performances have come in the second half of the season. He did reach the quarter-finals in the Open 13 in February but he had to wait till May to seal another quarter-final spot. That came at the Geneva Open. He also made it to the quarter-finals in the Libema Open. The 28-year-old’s best result came in the Atlanta Open, where he reached the semi-finals.
In the first round of the Sofia Open, Ivashka had to dig deep to get the better of Mikael Ymer in three sets 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 7-5.
Head-to-Head and Prediction
The head-to-head scoreline currently stands at 1-1. Ivashka won their previous meeting at the 2021 Citi Open in straight sets.
Prediction: Ilya Ivashka to win in three sets.
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