SYDNEY — Grigor Dimitrov continued his promising start to the new season when he showed flashes of his best tennis to beat Gilles Mueller 6-2 7-6(4) and set up a Sydney International final against defending champion Viktor Troicki on Friday.
Troicki, who played two full matches on Friday, had to come from a set and 4-2 down to beat Teymuraz Gabashvili 3-6 6-4 6-4 and clinch his place in a second successive final at the Australian Open warm-up, which he won as a qualifier last year.
Dimitrov was better rested having only had to play out the last few games of his 4-6 6-3 6-4 quarter-final victory over Alexandr Dolgopolov, which was stopped by a violent thunderstorm that wreaked havoc with the schedule on Thursday.