33-year-old Dimitrov confirmed that he is a very uncomfortable opponent for Hurkacz, as Sunday's victory was his sixth win in six matches they played over the years.
Things started well for Hurkacz, though - as he took the initiative from the beginning and easily won his service games, while Dimitrov struggled. However, the 27-year-old Pole did not convert any of the five breakpoints he had, even though in one of the games he was leading 40-0.
In the end - the first set was decided in a tie-break, which Hurkacz also started better and led 2-0. Later, however, Dimitrov did not make any mistakes on his serve, and the Pole's two mistakes cost him the set he lost 5-7.
The fate of the second set was decided in the seventh game - disastrous for Hurkacz, who served but did not win a single point.
Throughout the entire duel, Dimitrov was extremely calm and methodical. The Bulgarian did not make any unnecessary movements. He didn't celebrate winning balls, nor did he get angry when something didn't work out. And his extremely precise drop shots were a real nightmare for Hurkacz.
The Pole, on the other hand, became more and more irritated as the on-court situation developed. After the first set, he took off his shirt and hid his face in a towel. Later, he hit the racket on the court several times - and viciously discussed some of the umpire's decisions.
In the third set, Dimitrov broke Hurkacz in the third game. From that moment on, however, the audience gave the Pole much bigger support. Hurkacz brough himself together and made up for the break in the sixth game - but he was unable to turn the tide of the match, as Dimitrov won the tie-break to finish things off.
The Bulgarian advanced to the French Open quarterfinals for the first time in his career. Hurkacz has never made it that far yet - and this year's 1/8 finals equaled his best result at Roland Garros, previously achieved in 2022.
Meanwhile, the Polish superstar Iga Świątek is still fighting for the highest honours at the women's competition of the Grand Slam tournament in Paris. On Tuesday she will face-off against Czech Republic's Marketa Vondrousova (WTA 6th) in the quarterfinals, and their game is scheduled to start at 13:00.
The Polish WTA World Ranking leader is eying her third successive and fourth career triumph in Paris. Świątek has played against the Czech three times so far, proving victorious in every case.
Vondrousova is currently the top Czech tennis player. Her best result at Roland Garros was in 2019, when she lost to Australia's Ashleigh Barty in the final. The highlight of her career so far was the 2023 triumph at Wimbledon - and the Olympic silver won in 2020 in Tokyo.
Apart from Świątek, the only other Pole remaining in the Paris tournament is Jan Zieliński, who competes in mixed doubles with Taiwanese Su-Wei Hsieh.
They defeated Lyudmila Samsonova and Andrea Vavassori 6-0, 6-3 in the second round - and in Tuesday's French Open mixed doubles quarterfinal they will battle the top-seeded Australians Matthew Ebden and Ellen Perez.
This year's tournament at Roland Garros will continue until June 9.
(mm)
Source: IAR