Grigor Dimitrov should have been able to sweep away Dalibor Svrcina in the round of 32 at the 2026 Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden, with relative ease. Svrcina had a losing record over the course of his short career entering the match, and not much power. Certainly not as much as Dimitrov.
Yet, in a brutally ugly opening set by both players, the Czech jumped to a 3-0 lead over the Bulgarian, mainly because Dimitrov struggled to land his first serve and didn't dominate when he did. Svrcina wasn't playing all that well, either, and for much of the middle of the set the question was whether either player would ever hold serve again.
Dimitrov cut the lead to 2-3, lost serve, then Svrcina lost serve, and then Dimitrov. The set wasn't coming down to who would win but who would give it away less. Dimitrov, arguably the nicest person in the sport, slowly began to control his serve a bit more and forced a tie-break that wasn't as easy as it should have been.
Grigor Dimitrov outlasts Dalibor Svrcina in the opening round of the 2026 Nordea Open
The Bulgarian took a clear advantage but kept suffering mini-breaks and then taking them right back. He won the tie-break 7-5, but finished a set that he would likely forget and never want to show anyone as an example of his work, especially for someone who might have won Wimbledon in 2025 if not for an injury.
After both players held serve to begin the second set, Dimitrov was broken again by Svrcina. At this point, if someone watching the match didn't know either player, they might have assumed neither was very good nor had a long history playing tennis. Fans would have expected more from Dimitrov, and he almost certainly would have expected more from himself, too.
As set two played out, things got much worse for Dimitrov. He lost 12 points in a row at one point, and six straight games overall. Svrcina forced a deciding set by winning the second 6-1, a set in which Dimitrov had no aces, three double faults, landed his first serve just 43 percent of the time, and won only 40 percent of the first serves he landed and only 31 percent of his second serves.
The third set began more promisingly for the former ATP No. 3. He got a break, and then a hold, and the 2-0 lead had to feel like 5-0 after how poorly he had played. Dimitrov had another chance to break to get to 3-0, but couldn't pull through.
Svrcina did get back to 3-all, as nothing in the match was easy for either player, but Dimitrov began serving a bit better as the set grew old. He held with ease to get to 5-3, after breaking Svrcina again, and then again to take the set 6-4. The challenge of transitioning from the grass courts of Wimbledon to the clay of the Nordea Open almost proved to be too much.
Grigor Dimitrov will next play the winner of the Nuno Borges and Moise Kouame match in the round of 16 at the Nordea Open in Bastad. Tennis fans will likely hope for an elevated performance in the next round.
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