By Chris Oddo | Monday, February 9th, 2015
Grigor Dimitrov found himself in a huge hole on Monday at the ABN World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, but the electric Bulgarian put on his bravest Houdini imitation to survive.
Dimitrov saved two match points at 4-5 in the second set with courageous winners, and went on to defeat Paul-Henri Mathieu, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 to reach the second round where he will face either David Goffin or Gilles Muller.
Dimitrov’s win came with no small amount over controversy, however, as he was awarded a replay on a controversial first point of the second set tiebreaker when a scorched Mathieu returned was originally ruled out, then overturned by a challenge.
As the video above shows, Dimitrov aimlessly flailed at Mathieu’s return before throwing up his arms to challenge. But Dimitrov’s forced error came before the “out” call from the linesman, and therefore umpire Mohamed El Jennati could have easily awarded the point to Mathieu.
Instead he ruled that the point be replayed, and Dimitrov won the point. .
An already frustrated Mathieu was not pleased in the slightest with the call. After a discussion at the net with Dimitrov and El Jennati, he went on to lose the tiebreaker and continued his discussion, to no avail, with El Jennati after the set.
In the third he fell behind a double-break before Dimitrov finished him off.
The pair had an animated discussion after shaking hands, with Dimitrov trying to explain himself and Mathieu not buying his explanation. Mathieu could be heard saying “you know the game” to Dimitrov, implying that the Bulgarian should have conceded the point in the name of sportsmanship.
What should Dimitrov had done? Or, more important, did El Jennati make the right call?