Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria won his biggest title to date after he defeated Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 in the final of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel 2014, an ATP 500 hardcourt tournament in Acapulco.
“Belief is the only thing that kept me going today,” said Dimitrov. I’m really happy. This title means a lot to me.”
“Every match I played was really tough, especially the last three where I played three sets,” he added.
Dimitrov has had tough matches that reached the early hours in the morning in the semifinals and this final. He had to fight past Andy Murray in the semifinals that lasted until 2:30am. The final lasted until 1:13 am.
This is Dimitrov’s second career ATP Tour title with his first coming from the Stockholm Open in October last year.
The win will propel Dimitrov’s ranking from number 22 to number 16 on Monday while Kevin Anderson becomes world number 18. The Bulgarian goes home with $316,400 in prize money plus 500 ranking points while the South African star will go home with 300 ranking points and $142,650.
“I enjoyed the week,” said Anderson. “There are a lot of positives, but it’s difficult. I’m going to have to move on and take positives and take belief, because you can get down or get even more motivated…I had my chances, I just didn’t execute them.”
Anderson still has something to smile about after the defeat since he won the doubles event with Matthew Ebden after they defeated Max Mirnyi and Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3.
