Muller – whose last-eight affair with Jeremy Chardy was paused after he won the first set – completed a 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 defeat of the Frenchman but was beaten 6-2 7-6 (7-4) by Dimitrov.
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“I can’t remember the last time I played that well, ” Bouchard said.
“Then coming out the second match was… just a new day for me”. “It doesn’t sound good for me, does it?”
The 23-year-old, who will face Denis Istomin in the opening round at Melbourne Park, was well aware of who was on his side of the draw when he took to Ken Rosewall Arena on Friday in what would have been the first of his two matches on the day given the rain delays the previous day.
Troicki had a far tougher challenge in his semi-final, coming back from a set down to record a 3-6 6-4 6-4 win over Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili.
The four men’s quarter-final matches and the two women’s semi-finals were suspended until Friday after frequent fruitless attempts to get through the day’s programme. “Jo (Wilfried Tsonga) has got his thing and a few players have their thing, and with such a unique last name that I have we figured I might start a new tradition and give a sock away if I win”.
“It was quite windy also sometimes during the match, and I managed to play well in those conditions”.
“I understand the difficulties about preparing for the Australian Open and wanting to be fresh but you’ve got responsibilities to the tour and responsibilities to the fans and the tournament”.
“I feel fine. I feel fit”.
The Bulgarian was leading his quarter-final against Alexandr Dolgopolov 4-6 6-3 4-2 when it was interrupted by a violent thunderstorm on Thursday.
“I just felt my timing was a bit off and my serve was definitely not there so at least I pulled through, but I definitely want to be able to play better than that”, the former top-five Canadian said. There wasn’t much I could do… For me, the best idea was not to play.
“I think the match is pretty even up”.
Australia’s Samantha Stosur also reached the Sydney quarterfinals for the first time in 11 years when she beat Slovakian veteran Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 6-2.
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At the Hobart International, Eugenie Bouchard, playing her best stretch of tennis since sustaining a concussion in a dressing room fall at the U.S. Open last September, advanced to the final with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win over third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
