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Sports

Dimitrov ousts Murray to reach Wimbledon semis

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

London, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Rising Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov upset defending champion Andy Murray in straight sets in a Wednesday quarterfinal at Wimbledon.

The 11th-seeded Dimitrov leveled the third-seeded Murray 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 on Centre Court.

Dimitrov's serve was just too tough to deal with on Day 9, as the Bulgarian popped 10 serves and was broken only once en route to a convincing victory. The gifted star used a lot of variety, with topspin, volleys and a beautiful one-handed backhand to advance.

The 27-year-old two-time Grand Slam winner Murray succumbed in 1 hour, 40 minutes by tallying five double faults and striking 19 more unforced errors (37-18) than his Bulgarian counterpart.

Murray had won his last 17 matches at the All England Club, as he captured an Olympic gold medal here in 2012 and gave Britain its first male Wimbledon singles champion in 77 years last year.

The 23-year-old Dimitrov, once nicknamed "Baby Fed," will now appear in his first-ever Grand Slam semifinal. He was a quarterfinalist at this year's Aussie Open.

"I'm excited and happy I went through in straight sets," Dimitrov told BBC television. "It's never easy to play Andy, especially in front of his home crowd. I was pretty fortunate today.

"As soon as we started warming up, I sensed his game wasn't at his highest level and I was pretty confident and playing good tennis. The first set helped me get into a good rhythm. The second set tiebreak was a key moment for me. Coming into the third set, I knew I had a lot of things under control.

"I was pretty steady during the whole match and came out the winner. I have two more matches to play hopefully. I'm trying to stay on course and prepare for the next one."

Dimitrov captured his first-ever grass-court title at London's Queen's Club three weeks ago and is an unblemished 9-0 on grass this year.

Dimitrov's opponent on Friday will be top-seeded Novak Djokovic or 26th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic. Djokovic was last year's Wimbledon runner-up to Murray.