Bulgarian 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov believes he is ready to become a grand slam winner after advancing to the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.
Dimitrov – ranked an outside chance of triumphing at Melbourne Park this year – needed just under three hours to beat Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-3 6-7 (10-12) 6-3 6-3.
The 23-year-old, who faces Marcos Baghdatis next up, was a quarter-finalist in Melbourne last year – his best result at a grand slam so far after turning professional in 2008.
And while he has to contend with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer – who have won four Australian Open titles apiece – as well as Rafael Nadal, Stanislas Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori, Dimitrov feels he has what it takes to etch his name into the history books.
"If you ask me, of course I'd say yes. But that's something that I definitely need to show I think throughout all the matches and be even more consistent," Dimitrov said.
"If I'm ready? Yes, I think I'm ready. But before you get to the final or something like that, you need to go through quite a few players that are the top right now and playing their greatest tennis.
"I think the game has evolved so much in the past years that instead of getting easier, it's getting harder. I think you have a lot of guys, they have more experience, they're older, they're fitter. You have that on the radar.
"But in the same time, you know, I've worked throughout my career so far to position myself in those kind of matches.
"I'm out there to win those ones, so I think I'm aiming higher."