This was an interesting match, mainly for analyzing where Dimitrov is at.
Very true. I actually feel quite sorry for the up and coming players, because everyone is watching them, waiting for them to make a break-through, and whenever it doesn't happen, they are all collectively panned. The sad thing is that it's the best of these players that end up with the most criticism for being closest, but not quite making it.
That said, Grigor definitely impressed more than Bernie. His game might have been a bit up and down, and he might have struggled on big points, but at least he kept on trying and showed he has something to work from. I think he knew Andy can start slow, so had to come out of the blocks fast to get an early advantage, but I think that meant he was always going to trail off a bit as soon as Andy started to put up a better fight. Even if he'd managed to hold his nerve and take the first set, I still think he'd have struggled to maintain through a second or third set.
He probably needs to work on getting some more wins against top 20 players and going deep in some smaller tournaments, hopefully winning something (that Andy's not playing in).
