Stan Wawrinka vs Grigor Dimitrov- Rogers Cup 2019 - ATP 1000- Preview and Prediction

Temperatures are set soar and it is expected to be a firecracker of a match as Stan Wawrinka locks horns with Grigor Dimitrov in the first round of the Rogers Cup 2019- the first Masters 1000 of the summer hard court season. The two players are blessed with great shot-making play in their game and both of them can beat anyone on their given day.

Both Wawrinka and Dimitrov have played 9 timed before with Stan leading the head to head 5-4 narrowly. Stan Wawrinka has had a pretty average year with a 2nd round exit in Australian Open, a close  4 set quarterfinal loss to his compatriot Federer followed by a shock 2nd round upset to Reilly Opelka in Wimbledon. His best showing was a runner up performance in the Rotterdam open where he lost to Gael Monfils in 3 sets.

On the other hand, Grigor Dimitrov has failed to impress this year with some dismal performances from the Bulgarian who is popularly known as Baby Fed owing to his close gameplay to Roger Federer. The fact that he has slipped to World number 54 shows that things have been going downhill for him. He lost a thrilling 4th round match to Frances Tiafoe in 4 sets in the Australian Open , Stan edged past him in 3 tiebreakers in the 3rd round if the French Open while Moutet did a houdini act to stun him in the first round of the Wimbledon 2019.

Dimitrov has had a sub standard season and will be short of confidence going into this match with a first round exit in Atlanta Open and second round exit in the recently concluded Los Cabos Open. The only solace for Dimitrov is a quarterfinal finish in the ATP 250- Brisbane Open in January 2019. He will be looking to turn around his troubled season as soon as possible before the US Open starting on August 26,2019

Wawrinka is playing his first match after Wimbledon 2019 and will be fresh and eager to win this match. Both the players possess powerful one handed backhands and that can prove to be a main factor in deciding the winner especially in longer rallies and crunch moments like break point,game points and set points.

Both players will also be aiming to end their title drought in 2019. A long run in this important tournament will play a critical role in boosting up their rankings as well as getting favourable draws in the US Open 2019. Dimitrov in particular will look to end a horrible jinx of crashing out of the first round in 6 of his last 8 tournaments.

Dimitrov and Wawrinka's best performance in Rogers cup has been in reaching the semifinals in 2014 and 2016 respectively. Wawrinka will have more confidence having defeated Dimitrov thrice in a row while Dimitrov's last win against Wawrinka was in Cincinnati Open- 2016.

Prediction- Stan Wawrinka to win in 3 sets.