Happy 21st birthday, Tiafoe: The American earns huge win over Dimitrov

American Frances Tiafoe gave himself a 21st-birthday present to remember at the Australian Open on Sunday, edging Grigor Dimitrov to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, 7-5, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (1), 7-5.

After Tiafoe captured the opening set, Dimitrov seemed on the verge of evening it up at a set apiece—he built a 4-2 lead in the second set and, after letting the break go, he even brought up triple set point at 6-3 in the second-set tiebreaker. But Tiafoe swatted the first two set points away with forehand winners and eventually struck another one to clinch the breaker and build a two-sets-to-love lead.

Dimitrov rallied from 4-2 down to win the third set, and the two stayed on serve through 5-all in the fourth, but that’s when Tiafoe stepped it up one last time, breaking for 6-5 and then holding easily to finish it off after three hours and 39 minutes. Dimitrov put one last forehand into the net on match point.

Both men had positive overall numbers for the match—Tiafoe finished with a +9 differential of winners to unforced errors (63 to 54) while Dimitrov actually had an even cleaner +16 differential (59 to 43).

But the American was just a little bit sharper in one of the most crucial categories, break points, converting on five of his 13 break point chances (the Bulgarian, meanwhile, converted three of 18).

Tiafoe is now through to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in his 12th career appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam. His best previous result was the third round at Wimbledon last summer.

The American, who took out No. 5 seed Kevin Anderson earlier in the tournament, will next face the No. 2 seed, Rafael Nadal, who beat Tomas Berdych in straight sets later in the day, 6-0, 6-1, 7-6 (4).

Nadal and Tiafoe will be playing each other for the first time.

“He’s playing great. He’s won a couple of great matches in this tournament,” Nadal said. “He’s super quick, and he’s able to change directions fast. He has a huge forehand and a good serve, too.

“So let’s see. It’s going to be the first meeting for both of us, and it’s always special when you meet an opponent for the first time. In the quarterfinals there’s only one way, and that’s to play well.”

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