Dimitrov Upsets Defending Champion Murray at Wimbledon

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Published on July 3 2014 2:23 am
Last Updated on July 3 2014 2:23 am
Written by Millie Lange

Rising Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov upset defending champion Andy Murray in straight sets in a Wednesday  quarterfinal  at Wimbledon. The  11th-seeded Dimitrov leveled the third-seeded Murray 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 on Centre Court. Murray had won his last 17 matches at the All England Club, as he captured an Olympic gold medal here in 2012 and gave Britain its first male Wimbledon singles champion in 77 years last year.

The 23-year-old  Dimitrov, once nicknamed "Baby Fed," will now appear in his first-ever Grand Slam semifinal. He was a quarterfinalist at this year's Aussie Open. Dimitrov captured his first-ever grass-court title  at London's Queen's Club three weeks ago and is an unblemished 9-0  on grass this year. Dimitrov's opponent on Friday will be top-seeded Novak Djokovic or 26th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic. Djokovic was last year's Wimbledon runner-up to Murray.

Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard will meet in the semifinals at Wimbledon after winning quarterfinal matches in straight sets on Wednesday. The third-seeded French Open runner-up Halep, who trailed 1-4 in the opening set, won the last 11 games to beat last year's Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki, the 19th seed, 6-4, 6-0 in 57 minutes on the famed Centre Court.

The German Lisicki, who is now 1-2 in her career Wimbledon semis, lost to France's Marion Bartoli in last year's finale. The 13th-seeded Canadian Bouchard reached her third straight Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-3, 6-4 upset victory over ninth-seeded German left-hander Angelique Kerber at the All England Club. Thursday's other semifinal will pit sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova against 23rd-seeded fellow Czech left-hander Lucie Safarova.