Roger Federer hits a return during the men's singles quarter final match between Roger Federer of Switzerland and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria at the 2019 US Open in New York, the United States, Sept. 3, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
NEW YORK, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria shocked five-time champion Roger Federer of Switzerland 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance into his first semifinal of the US Open on Tuesday.
The 78th-ranked Dimitrov had never beaten the third seed in their seven previous meetings, winning just two of 18 sets in those matchups, but on Tuesday he emerged as the better player.
"I think the past six, seven months have been pretty tough for me. I kept on believing in my work, the rehab I had to put behind my shoulder, the exercise and the practice. There were so many things I had to adjust in such a small but big period of time," the 28-year-old Dimitrov said. "You're almost at the end of the year, you have a result like that. It's pretty special to me."
"After the second set I felt I was getting a good strike on my shots," Dimitrov added. "My main goal was to stay on the court as long as possible. At the end for sure he was not 100 percent. It's best of five and anything can happen."
Federer made 61 unforced errors to only 41 from Dimitrov. The Swiss converted only four of the 14 break points he earned.
"Just disappointed it's over because I did feel like I was actually playing really well after a couple of rocky starts. It's just a missed opportunity to some extent that you're in the lead, you can get through. It was looking good," Federer said. "But got to take the losses. They're part of the game. Looking forward to family time and all that stuff. Life's all right."
Dimitrov will take on fifth seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia, who made his first Grand Slam semifinal with a 7-6(6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in two hours and 34 minutes.
Medvedev, at 23, became the youngest US Open men's singles semifinalist since Serb Novak Djokovic in 2010 and Russia's first Grand Slam semifinalist since Mikhail Youzhny at the 2010 US Open.
