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CHINA OPEN

October 9, 2016

Grigor Dimitrov

Beijing, China

A. MURRAY/G. Dimitrov

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What do you think was the key today in this match? Your game and the way he was playing, too.
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Well, I think the past couple of times, Andy has been playing really good against me. I didn't start my match the best way possible. Got broken right away in the first game. Very different conditions today. Pretty chilly. I think I just didn't have enough time to adjust. I think the previous two matches, I would say I've played indoors.

I think today was just different. Again, Andy's pretty much the greatest player this year. He's been winning a lot, a lot of confidence. He obviously knows how to move well on the court. All the credit to him.

I personally think I didn't play a good enough match to sort of rally with him throughout. Maybe the second set a little bit better. If the match would have gone to the third set, I'm not sure that I could have done things like way different. But just trying to take the positive side of the week, so...

Q. A bit of an unusual conclusion, wasn't it? Towards the end of the second set, you caught fire. I think you won 11 points in a row, then you didn't win a point on your serve in the tiebreak.
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Just had too much up and down. Very different conditions. A little problem also on my string tension. I think I realized that a little bit later. I think I realized that later in the first set. Just small components play a big role.

Q. You kept running back and changing your racquet.
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah, just only one racquet that I changed was lower tension. Hitting conditions were very tough. I spoke with Andy after the ceremony. He said, Did you drop the tension?

I said, No. That's the problem. I didn't think I serve good enough as well. A good first serve with Andy, he's going to make you play pretty much every single point.

In a way, I did all I could do. In the end of the day, I'm on the court all by myself. I'm disappointed. I'm not going to lie. Played such a good tennis in the past week, better than the week before. I was hoping this time I would come out maybe a little bit different, maybe a little bit different attitude towards the match. But I guess wasn't the right time again.

Q. Did not being able to play your semifinal match against Milos have any effect on how you played tonight?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: I don't think so. I mean, I think I've played quite a few matches over two hours, especially since the beginning of the tournament. It was kind of nice to have a bit of time off.

I don't have the answer for this really. I don't think of it that way. All I wanted to do is just play matches, play tennis. I mean, I think the past matches I've pushed myself I think over the limits, meaning physically and I think mentally. Today, I just didn't feel that I had another gear.

As I said, even if I would have won that second set, for some reason it was very hard for me to stay focused and be mentally at the same level. As I said, Andy's fighting pretty much every single point. You know you're not going to get anything for free.

So, I mean, it also would have been two completely different matches from yesterday or today. So you can't really compare it.

Q. Although you said you're disappointed right now, you still showed good momentum in this tournament, beating Rafa and coming to the final. Will this motivate you or give you more confidence in the next tournament?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah, I think I'm motivated pretty much every single day to wake up and just get better in whatever I do.

Obviously when you get to a final, the disappointment is a little bit -- I mean, you're a little bit harder on yourself. So obviously right now I can't think really clear about how well I played this week or take the positives. So I'm not very appreciative at the moment, I guess.

Obviously I have to play the day after. There's not that much time to think. I have to put everything on the side or on hold and just focus. As I said, I have to play the day after tomorrow. There's no time to dwell on anything.

Q. You played Andy numerous times. He served 30% first serves in the first set and still got away with it against you. Has his second serve massively improved?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah, I think today he served pretty good the second serve. He caught me off guard I think quite a few times. Especially in the body, he was serving a lot of body serves. Sometimes he was just catching me off guard, meaning I wasn't sure which shot I wanted to hit.

I knew I could run around and hit a good forehand, at the same time I felt comfortable hitting a backhand. When a player serves like that, it's tough to read his pattern. Even in he US Open he served pretty good. He definitely improved his game on the serve side.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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