By Chris Oddo | Saturday June 24, 2017
Feliciano Lopez battled past Grigor Dimitrov to claim his spot in the Queen's Club final.
Photo Source: Julian Finney/Getty
Feliciano Lopez caught a second wind and rode it to victory in London on Saturday, reeling off the final four games to notch a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory over 2014 champion Grigor Dimitrov to set a final with Marin Cilic at Queen’s Club on Sunday.
Lopez looked to be in trouble after he dropped four of five games to Dimitrov and subsequently the second set upon resumption of the match after a lengthy rain delay, but the 35-year-old rallied and took over the contest against Dimitrov with a critical break in the sixth game of the third set. He would break again in the eighth game to win going away.
Dimitrov saw his backhand disappear down the stretch, and he was nearly up to the task of surviving without it as he saved six break points in a nine and a half minute fourth game of the set to hold for two-all.
But Lopez’s persistence proved to be too much for the Bulgarian to handle in this their fourth career meeting. It didn’t help that the Spaniard motored through his service games in the decider, winning all 13 first-serve points and not facing a single break point.
Lopez, who fell to Dimitrov in the 2014 Queen’s final, improves to 2-2 against Dimitrov lifetime and 8-1 this grass-court season. He sets an eighth lifetime meeting with Marin Cilic for the title.
The 2012 Queen’s champion got past Gilles Muller, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, behind 20 aces and 43 of 47 first-serve points won. The Croatian, ranked No.7 on the ATP Tour, moved into his third career final at Queen’s, but first since 2013.
Cilic will bid for his 18th career title on Sunday; he owns a 5-2 lifetime record against Lopez including a win over the Spaniard in three sets at Queen’s in 2013.