{"id":743684,"date":"2026-07-05T00:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T00:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/743684\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T00:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T00:31:11","slug":"dimitrov-so-happy-to-hold-off-berrettini-fightback-in-cathartic-wimbledon-win-wimbledon-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/743684\/","title":{"rendered":"Dimitrov \u2018so happy\u2019 to hold off Berrettini fightback in cathartic Wimbledon win | Wimbledon 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twelve months ago, when Grigor Dimitrov tore his pectoral muscle as he was closing in on victory over Jannik Sinner, the Bulgarian was distraught. Not only had he been outplaying the now world No 1<\/a>, but he had been playing some of the best tennis of his career. Clutching his chest on Centre Court, he didn\u2019t know how long he would be out or even if he would ever get back to the same level. When Sinner won the title, well, you can guess his thoughts.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Dimitrov edged out a valiant Matteo Berrettini, who has been beset by injuries ever since he reached the final at Wimbledon in 2021<\/a>, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3 to earn himself a place in the last 16 and a shot at redemption, and perhaps much more. He\u2019ll meet Arthur Fery, the British wildcard who edged out Zizou Bergs<\/a> in a deciding-set tie-break.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s amazing to be back here,\u201d said a jubilant Dimitrov, who hurdled the net to embrace Berrettini at the end. \u201cI\u2019m just so happy, so happy. Honestly, I just wanted to come and compete again in front of you guys. There\u2019s something special in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played amazing in the third and fourth [sets]. I had chances but he started serving so well. I had to reframe my mind just to stay positive and say I\u2019d get a chance. I didn\u2019t know when but in the end I served really well the last three games.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter last year I would never know what would have happened. But guess what, I am back here and I\u2019m aiming to rewrite everything again. Let\u2019s keep the good times going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grigor Dimitrov reaches for a shot in \u2018the pretty match\u2019 against Matteo Berrettini. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

This was dubbed \u201cthe pretty match\u201d by Dimitrov, a tongue-in-cheek nod to the two men\u2019s looks, but also their attractive game styles. The pair hit more backhand slices than any other players in the game, keeping the ball low and moving their opponent out of their comfort zone.<\/p>\n

Dimitrov broke early in the first set on his way to a lead he never looked like giving up and though the second set was tighter, he broke again in the ninth game and served out to double his lead. The differences at that stage were on second serve; Dimitrov won 74% of points on his while Berrettini was as low as 20% on his own. Dimitrov\u2019s superior net play also paid dividends.<\/p>\n

Just when it looked like it would be an easy night, though, Berrettini broke for a 4-2 lead in the third set then cut the deficit in half. The roof was then closed, much to Dimitrov\u2019s annoyance, and the Italian broke for 3-1 in the fourth. Though Dimitrov broke back, Berrettini snatched another for 6-5 and then levelled the match.<\/p>\n

The momentum was with Berrettini but Dimitrov gathered himself to break for 2-1 and he held the advantage throughout the final set, clinching victory on his second match point when Berrettini walloped a forehand long.<\/p>\n

The fifth seed, Alex de Minaur, beat the American Zach Svajda 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the fourth round here for the fourth time in five years. After shaking off the loss of the second set, the Australian advanced to a clash with Flavio Cobolli, the runner-up at last month\u2019s French Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to remind myself more frequently that best-of-five is a completely different beast, right?\u201d said De Minaur. \u201cI normally get a little bit frustrated if the opponent plays a good set, but what I really should be thinking is that they need to do that for three sets in a row. That\u2019s not the easiest task to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n

The French Open champion, Alexander Zverev, equalled his best ever Wimbledon<\/a> run, reaching the fourth round with a 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Marcos Giron of the US. The sixth seed, Taylor Fritz, saw off Lorenzo Sonego of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (5) and Alexander Bublik fought past Frances Tiafoe in five sets, the No 10 seed prevailing 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (11), 4-6, 6-3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Twelve months ago, when Grigor Dimitrov tore his pectoral muscle as he was closing in on victory over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-743684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}