Australia's Jordan Thompson has advanced to his first fourth-round in an ATP Masters 1000 event by defeating Grigor Dimitrov 7-5 7-5 at the Miami Open.
The defeat of the former world No.3 and 2017 season-ending champion, comes a round after the Sydneysider upset 10th seed Karen Khachanov in the second round.
Although the Bulgarian was playing just his second tournament of the season because of a right shoulder problem, Thompson's breakthrough run in South Florida could mark the turning point in his career.
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It was only six months ago that the world No.77 was forced to swallow his pride and return to the Challenger circuit.
While the 24-year-old only won a single match on the ATP World Tour last season, he went on to win 52 Challenger matches - the second most in history.
But now, after pocketing the largest paycheck of his career, Thompson's focus is solely on his next match against sixth seed Kevin Anderson.
BREAKING | @jordanthommmo2 knocks out Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-5 to advance to the 4th round here at the @MiamiOpen #miamiopen @TennisAustralia pic.twitter.com/hL6SvVkK55
— THE FIRST SERVE (@FirstServeSEN) March 25, 2019
"It hasn’t really sunk in yet, I think I have to play tomorrow so I’m always thinking about the next day and what I have to improve on,” Thompson told SEN’s The First Serve.
"It was a great effort physically and mentally so I’m pretty pleased with myself.
"Today I made a lot of returns. (Dimitrov) was serving well and I was managing to block them back, get them back and get myself in the point. I tried to sneak into the net and mix it up and not try the same thing all the time and keep him off guard a bit.
“I’ve been trying to get mature on the court, you see these top guys even if they are getting fazed they don’t show it. I think I can work on that area, it’s tough to do but I think I'm getting better at it”.
Thompson will take on the South African big-server on Wednesday, March 26 at 6.00am (AEDT).
He also joins compatriot Nick Kyrgios in the last sixteen, after the Canberran breezed past Dusan Lajovic in the third round.
