Dimitrov Beats Fifth Seed Dodig; Udomchoke Causes Upset

© PTT Thailand OpenGrigor Dimitrov is now 6-6 lifetime on indoor courts.

Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov knocked out fifth seed Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-2, 7-5 in one hour and 33 minutes on Monday at the PTT Thailand Open.

Dimitrov, who started the year at No. 106 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, won 73 per cent of his service points and hit four aces to record his 14th match win of the season.

"I thought it was a great match today," said Dimitrov, who is now 6-6 lifetime on indoor courts. "I'm still overcoming the jetlag, but I hope to do well here as I was really looking forward to playing in Bangkok. It has been a great experience so far.

"My game is improving, after a couple of rough months, but I am working hard and trying to progress. Today, it all kind of clicked into place."

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World No. 217 Danai Udomchoke also caused an upset when the World No. 217 beat sixth-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in just under two hours. It was the Thai's first match win at an ATP World Tour tournament for four years (2007 Bangkok).

Seventh seed Robin Haase marked his Bangkok debut with a 6-3, 7-6(1) victory over local wild card Kittipong Wachiramanowong. The Dutchman broke serve four times from 11 opportunities and won 83 per cent of points on first serve for victory in 83 minutes.

“I was a break up in the second set and thought I was going to win it easy because I was playing much better than him,” admitted Haase. “But on the big points he played some great shots. I knew that I didn’t need to worry if it got into a tie-break because I knew I had more experience than him and that was the really big advantage for me today.”

World No. 42 Haase enjoyed a career-best run of form over the summer. The 24 year old won his first ATP World Tour title in Kitzbuhel (d. Montanes), reached the semi-finals in Winston-Salem (l. to Benneteau), and led World No. 4 Andy Murray by two sets in the US Open second round before succumbing in five sets.

Colombia's Santiago Giraldo notched his 26th win of the season as he defeated Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-3 in 68 minutes. The World No. 52 reached his first ATP World Tour final earlier in the year in Santiago (l. to Robredo). He goes on to face second-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils.