Grigor Dimitrov is an esteemed guest in Rotterdam

For the tenth time this year, Grigor Dimitrov will step on court at the ABN AMRO Open. Once again, he is quite successful in Rotterdam Ahoy. The 32-year-old Bulgarian reached the last eight after his victory over the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics: 6-3, 7-5. 'For me it is always difficult against Marton,’ said Dimitrov, who reached the third place in the ATP rankings in November 2017. 'Last month during the Australian Open, I also had my hands full with him. It really felt like a battle in the trenches in Melbourne, and with the heat, it was almost unbearable. Right now I am happy with this victory, because the quality of our match was quite high. But to progress here in Rotterdam, my game still needs improvement.”

Dimitrov was still as green as grass in 2009, when he entered the main tournament as number 487 on a wild card. But what was quite sensational was that in his ATP debut match, he won in three sets against Czech star Tomas Berdych. However, he had to bow down to none other than Rafael Nadal in the second round. 'That was all very special. My second match at the highest level, and a draw against Nadal. I was very young then. I have always played great memorable matches in Rotterdam, like against Del Potro, and, of course, the 2018 final against Roger Federer.’

Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko surprised friend and foe yesterday afternoon on Rotterdam's centre court. The 23-year-old pulled off the biggest upset of the 51st edition of the ABN AMRO Open, with a victory over the third-seed, Denmark's Holger Rune: 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. 'This is the biggest victory of my career,’ beamed Shevchenko after his match, currently number 57 in the ATP rankings. 'It’s incredibly beautiful. Last year I played many matches against top players, but almost always lost. That may have been part of the learning process. I was known as a clay specialist, but with this victory in Rotterdam this is certainly a thing of the past.’ Dimitrov and Shevchenko will meet in the quarter-finals for their first ever tour-level meeting.