11 January 2013
Grigor Dimitrov will start against Seed 32 and rank No 35 Julien Benneteau of France in the starting round of the main draw of the first Grand Slam tournament of 2013 Australian Open in Melbourne. The highest ranking of Benneteau is 26 reached in April 2012. Dimitrov beat Benneteau twice of two matches played before - very tight matches in Basel and Gstaad in 2012.
If successful at the start Dimitrov would play Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, No 101, or qualifier.
This is the 4th participation of Dimitrov at Australian Open. In 2010 he lost in the first round of the qualifications to Robert Kendrick (USA). Then he advanced to the second round of the main draw in 2011 and 2012. In 2011 Dimitrov won 3 matches in the qualifications, then beat Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in the first round of the main draw and lost to Stanislas Wawrinka (Swizterland) in the second round. In 2012 Dimitrov's ranking allowed him to start directly from the main draw and in the first round he defeated Jeremy Chardy (France) and then lost to No 10 Nicolas Almagro (Spain).
The main draw matches start on Monday, 14 January.
If successful at the start Dimitrov would play Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, No 101, or qualifier.
This is the 4th participation of Dimitrov at Australian Open. In 2010 he lost in the first round of the qualifications to Robert Kendrick (USA). Then he advanced to the second round of the main draw in 2011 and 2012. In 2011 Dimitrov won 3 matches in the qualifications, then beat Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in the first round of the main draw and lost to Stanislas Wawrinka (Swizterland) in the second round. In 2012 Dimitrov's ranking allowed him to start directly from the main draw and in the first round he defeated Jeremy Chardy (France) and then lost to No 10 Nicolas Almagro (Spain).
The main draw matches start on Monday, 14 January.
