By Emma Quayle
Grigor Dimitrov did not expect to crawl into bed until after 5am, after his third round match at the Australian Open started two minutes before midnight on Sunday, finishing two hours later.
It was probably no great surprise that his body clock did not seem to have fully reset itself by the time he headed back out to play Denis Istomin, at the much more reasonable start time of 5pm.
He woke up, warmed up and got going. He got into the match, he won it and he got back to his hotel room several hours earlier, to start getting ready for a quarter-final against David Goffin.
He outlasted an opponent whose biggest-week-ever became a lot less dream-like, Istomin sore, sorry and hobbled as the match went on but playing through to the very last point.
Grigor Dimitrov beats Denis Istomin in four sets to advance to the quarter-finals.Credit: AARON FAVILA
To win, Dimitrov first had to watch the first set slip by him. Or, more to the point, have it ripped away before he had a proper chance to realise that it had started, let alone to start swinging.
Istomin was confident. Why wouldn't you be, after knocking Novak Djokovic out of a tournament he had won five times in the last six years, then winning your follow-up in five more tough sets?
He was quick, creative, aggressive and took the set 6-2 in just 25 minutes, hitting a lot more winners, making far fewer mistakes and playing like he was in a hurry. It soon became clear why.
First, Dimitrov got going. He began to get more balls back, to stretch the rallies out. He started to attack the net. He played with more urgency than he had started out with, to control points much more than he had.
Having stuck with Istomin through the first few games of the second set, not letting his momentum move him too far ahead, by early in the tie-break he was deciding what happened.
Then, Istomin's body began to remind him how ready it was for a rest. He called for treatment as soon as the tie-break was over, having iced his own legs and groin from early in the match.
He found it hard to twist and turn, let alone remain in the long, side-to-side rallies that Dimitrov kept insisting he play, taking another extended break after the third set but playing the match out.
Dimitrov took over in almost every way – more winners, fewer errors, a far more reliable first serve – feeling as the match unfolded that he was in better shape than Istomin to finish off.
"I think first set I just didn't play well, and he came out too hot. He was just swinging for his shots, playing a lot of down the line, hitting his spots on the serve," he said.
"I knew I had to fight, that's for sure. I never wanted to underestimate him. He's an excellent player. Experienced, as well. I just needed to, you know, fight. I needed that one game to kind of get into the match and have that rhythm going.
"I fought I think through that second set. Then the third, I was just playing very steady. I was doing the right things.
"In the fourth, I was just stepping in and absolutely playing my game to the point I was doing everything I wanted pretty much each game. So that gives you a lot of confidence."
Dimitrov has played just once against Goffin, ranked four places ahead of him at No. 11. But he beat him that time, at the US Open in 2014, and has had plenty of other up-close looks since.
"It's going to be a tough match, for sure, without a doubt," he said.
"David is an excellent player. In a way I know what to expect from him. We've practiced against each other a few times this off-season. And he's a very dangerous player.
"I just need to be ready mentally and physically for the battle. Honestly, there's not much else you can say about that."