Barcelona Open: de Minaur vs Dimitrov Tennis Prediction and Pick

TennisSection previews the 2023 Barcelona Open round of 16 match featuring Alex de Minaur vs Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday, April 20, 2023.

de Minaur vs Dimitrov Match Preview and Prediction

Alex de Minaur and Grigor Dimitrov meet for the second time this season. Who will prevail and reach the quarterfinal of the Barcelona Open?

Alex de Minaur suffered heartache at last year’s Barcelona Open coming within a point of knocking eventual winner Carlos Alcaraz out of the tournament. But on his return to Catalonia, he put that disappointment on the back of his mind, putting an absolute clinic against top 100 debutant Alexander Shevchenko. The Aussie won 6-0, 6-1, converting six of nine break points and tallying 89% first-serve points won. He’ll look to exact revenge on his defeat to Grigor Dimitrov a couple of months ago in Rotterdam.

Grigor Dimitrov, meanwhile, didn’t have the best of preparations coming into his first match at the Barcelona Open. The Bulgarian was involved in a robbery incident a couple of days ago in the city of Barcelona where he lost an expensive watch but didn’t suffer any injuries. The former quarterfinalist walked into his match against Emilio Gomez fully focussed and maintained his concentration throughout against a player who had recorded a huge scalp a round prior by taking down Ramos Vinolas. He won 6-3, 6-1, converting five of six break points and tallying 93% first-serve points won.

de Minaur vs Dimitrov Prediction and Pick

Alex de Minaur and Grigor Dimitrov are tied at 2-2 in their head-to-head. The two players served a classic in Rotterdam earlier this season, with Dimitrov winning the final set tiebreak with a moment of jaw-dropping athleticism on match point. de Minaur had two match points in that breaker but could not take any. I like de Minaur to win this one though. He’s only lost to Tsitsipas and Alcaraz at the Barcelona Open – two premier performers on this surface. Dimitrov is not a long way off from that category, but his rally tolerance is gradually diminishing and that’s where the Aussie will shine the brightest.