Istanbul: Bulgarian second seed Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday powered his way past Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan to breeze into the quarter-finals of the Istanbul Open.
Dimitrov closed out 6-3, 6-2 to keep himself on track for a meeting in the final on Sunday with top seed and world number two Roger Federer, who eased into the quarter-finals the day earlier.
Golubev, the world number 117, never showed any sign of getting into the match, with Dimitrov always in control and able to complete his day’s work after a match lasting less than 1 hour and five minutes.
Looking strong on his serve, the world number 11 Dimitrov offered his opponent no break points and won almost 90 per cent of points on his own delivery.
Meanwhile, Uruguayan third seed Pablo Cuevas made heavy work of Russian qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil knocked out Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan for a place in the quarters, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
In Friday’s quarter finals, Federer will face Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain while Dimitrov will take on either Dusan Lajovic of Serbia or Ivan Dodig of Croatia.
The Istanbul Open is the first ever ATP World Tour event held in Turkey.
