 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2008 |
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| 04 Jun 2008 - Roland Garros, Paris - Eleanor Preston |  Related Audio |
| Sun shines on Dimitrov in Paris |
 An Interview with Gregor Dimitrov (MP3 format)
Cindy Chala audio blogs from the Player Lounge at Roland Garros (MP3 format)
 
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Bulgaria’s Gregor Dimitrov seems to be the only person in Paris who appreciates the overcast skies and damp conditions that have been a feature of Roland Garros this year. The 14th seed in the boys’ competition certainly did not make heavy weather of French favourite Jonathan Eysseric on Wednesday, beating the former Junior World No.1 6-3, 6-4 to seal a place in the quarter-finals.
“I like France and Roland Garros is a really good tournament for me,” said Dimitrov. “I really like the people around and the organisation - I even like the weather – it’s really dark and raining and I love this weather. It’s the same as in England and I really like that – I can’t wait for Wimbledon!”
Dimitrov will play Poland’s Jerzy Jankowicz in the last eight after Janowicz beat France’s Antoine Feret. Top seed Bernard Tomic is also through to round to the quarter-finals, where the Australian will take on in-form Argentine Guido Pella, who won the Grade A Italian Open as part of his pre-Roland Garros campaign. Tsung-Hua Yang of Tapei takes on Evgeny Donskoy of Russia and Soong-Jae Cho plays Mexico’s second seed Cesar Ramirez in the other last eight matches.
“It’s been a good tournament for me so far, I’ve been playing some pretty good matches even though I actually started pretty bad in my first match,” said Dimitrov. “I think I’ve found a way to play on this court now. I’ve got all the small details right – the racquets, the strings – and now I really like it. I think I can play on a lot of surfaces, my favourites are fast courts like hard-courts and grass, but I really like this kind of clay because it’s possible to play aggressively on it. It's absolutely realistic for me to win the tournament. It’s normal for me and I expect that. I have been playing in Futures and other tournaments and playing with lots of confidence. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older. I think everything is just coming from my head. If my mind is clean, then it’s really good…I feel like I can express myself.”
The rest of the boys' quarter finals will be made up of Bernard Tomic (AUS), Guido Pella (ARG), Jerzy Janowicz (POL), Evgeny Donskoy (RUS), Tsuang-Hua Yang (TPE), Soong-Jae Cho (KOR), and Cesar Ramirez (MEX).
In the girls’ competition, top seeded American Melanie Oudin continued her clay-court education with another confidence-boosting win, this time over Anasstasia Grymalska of Italy. Oudin, who had never even hit on red clay before arriving in Paris a week ago, seems to be feeling more and more at home at Roland Garros and will be a difficult proposition for her quarter-final foe, Elena Bogdan of Romania. Bogdan was joined in the last eight by her compatriot Simona Halep, who takes on Russia’s Ksenia Lykina in their quarter-final. The other two girls’ matches in the last eight will see Nathalie Mohn of France play Slovakian Lenka Jurikova and Slovenian Pelona Hercoq take on Dutch second seed Arantxa Rus.
As well as trying to overcome her relative inexperience on clay, Oudin has also been troubled by a cold this week, but says that she does not expect it to bother her against Bogdan. “I’ve kind of lost my voice but I’m hoping this is the end of it,” said Oudin, who trains in Atlanta, Georgia. “When I go out there and play, there’s no excuses. If I lose or whatever. It won’t be because I’m sick or whatever. If I go out there to play I will be out there to win, 100%.”
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