![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0012a156-614.jpg\"\/)
\nGrigor Dimitrov is out<\/p>\n
By Stephen Higgins<\/p>\n
Kyrian Jacquet produced a fantastic performance at Elm Park to defeat former world no. 3 Grigor Dimitrov 6-3 7-6 (9) before the team of Conor Gannon and Charlie Barry brought some home cheer as they secured a semi-final berth in the doubles in the Dublin Challenge.<\/p>\n
After a slight delay due to spots of rain, the headline match of the day opened proceedings as Jacquet, the third seed, took on the former world number three Grigor Dimitrov.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the Bulgarian, the assuredness that he displayed on serve against Gannon was absent from the off here.<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old looked flat as he donated his first service game to the determined Frenchman. Meanwhile Jacquet, who had not dropped a set in the tournament so far, looked sharp and full of solutions on court.<\/p>\n
Jacquet immediately held serve and maintained that advantage through the set.<\/p>\n
As the Bulgarian searched for more first serves, his opponent feasted on the second delivery with Dimitrov only winning 29% of those points.<\/p>\n
Without his serve firing, the former Wimbledon semi-finalist was vulnerable, particularly off the backhand wing where he almost exclusively sliced.<\/p>\n
Jacquet was full of confidence from the baseline, changed pace well with dropshots, and frequently punished his stranded opponent with fierce passing shots as he took the first set.<\/p>\n
Growing in frustration, Dimitrov frequently gazed over at his elite coaching team of former world no.3 David Nalbandian and Jamie Delgado as he searched for answers.<\/p>\n
Some were found in the second set as the Bulgarian held serve and then switched the momentum with a break in the fifth game. Unfortunately for Dimitrov, Jacquet would not wilt and immediately broke back to halt the push.<\/p>\n
\nGrigor Dimitrov is out<\/p>\n
The pair then held through the rest of the set, both displaying their expert feel around the net alongside some heavy blows from the baseline.<\/p>\n
With the crowd enraptured, a tie-break was a fitting decider.<\/p>\n
Initially, Dimitrov got off to a promising start as he raced to a 4-0 lead with the forehand finally igniting. However, the fearless Frenchman reeled off a couple of unreturned serves to close the gap.<\/p>\n
From 7-7, it was tense as both men traded blows before a match point arrived for Jacquet at *8-9.<\/p>\n
A duffed forehand gave Dimitrov a reprieve. But it was short lived.<\/p>\n
At *10-9 on Jacquet’s delivery, a kick serve into the body confused Dimitrov and his return sank into the net.<\/p>\n
In the other quarter-final in that half, wildcard Henry Searle continued his fine form as he overcame Canada\u2019s Alexis Galarneau 7-5 3-6 6-1.<\/p>\n
The Wimbledon boys\u2019 champion in 2023, Searle did not drop a set prior to this round and will now face Jacquet.<\/p>\n
The second semi-final which will feature the top seed, Titouan Droguet, and the fourth seed Jurij Rodionov.<\/p>\n
Hailing from the fringe of Paris, world no.112 Droguet beat Stefanos Sakellaridis of Greece 6-3 6-3 in their last-eight clash.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Rodionov, who hasn\u2019t dropped a set all week, disposed of the talented Chinese qualifier Yi Zhou.<\/p>\n
The Austrian took the match 6-4 6-2 and is into his fourth Challenger semi-final of the season.<\/p>\n
The home crowd were then thrilled as Gannon and Barry secured a great 1-6 6-3 11-9 comeback victory over the top-seed pairing of Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli and Trey Hilderbrand.<\/p>\n
The Davis Cup duo will relish the opportunity to make a Challenger final in Dublin.<\/p>\n
Standing in their way will be the Dutch combination of Jarno Jans and Niels Visker.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s schedule starts with Jacquet and Searle, followed by Droguet against Rodionov. Gannon and Barry will be the third act on the main court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Stephen Higgins Kyrian Jacquet produced a fantastic performance at Elm Park to defeat former world no. 3…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-646205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}