Sela steamrolled by Dimitrov

Sela will now turn his focus to Israel’s Davis Cup tie against Argentina, which will be played the weekend of September 12-14.

By ALLON SINAI
Israeli tennis star Dudi Sela. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Israeli tennis star Dudi Sela.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Dudi Sela’s hopes of reaching the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in more than five years were crushed in a mere one hour and 29 minutes by Grigor Dimitrov on Friday.
The 29-year-old Israeli, ranked No. 83 in the world, dropped to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 defeat in the second round of the US Open in New York.
The seventh seed from Bulgaria, who is coming off a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon and also reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open earlier this year, completely outplayed Sela on the Louis Armstrong Stadium, hitting 28 winners and converting seven of 17 break points.
Sela had claimed just his second Grand Slam win in three years to reach the second round, overcoming Carlos Berlocq in a preview of their expected meeting in the Davis Cup World Group playoff tie between Israel and Argentina in two weeks.
Sela has reached the second round in New York in each of his past four appearances at the US Open, but has still never gone further. His only other Grand Slam win since 2012 came at Flushing Meadows last year, with the Israeli not progressing past the second round of a major since he reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2009.
Sela will now turn his focus to Israel’s Davis Cup tie against Argentina, which will be played in Sunrise, Florida, over the weekend of September 12-14 after the ITF ruled that it can’t take place in Israel due to the security situation.