(CNN) — There has been a massive, unexpected development at the US Open: The “Big 3” in the men’s singles draw is down to one.
No. 3 Roger Federer has been stunned by Grigor Dimitrov, with the unseeded Bulgarian advancing to the semifinals 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
It’s the first time Dimitrov, 28, has beaten Federer in eight tries. He’ll next face the fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev, who defeated No. 23 seed Stan Wawrinka earlier Tuesday. Dimitrov and Medvedev have split their two previous matches, back in 2017. Neither have reached a grand slam final.
The exit of the 38-year-old Swiss follows world No. 1 Novak Djokovic; the 32-year-old Serb retired in his match in the round of 16 against Wawrinka on Sunday because of shoulder trouble.
This was not vintage Fed on Tuesday. He looked off balance, misfiring on his shots and spraying errors. And Federer had an injury concern of his own, needing a trainer at the start of the fifth set.
He told reporters he sought treatment on his upper back, saying he just needed to try to loosen it up.
“This is Grigor’s moment and not my body’s moment,” Federer said.
The lone member of the Big 3 left? That would be 18-time grand slam champion No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who is in the other half of the draw. The Spaniard, 33, continues to chase Federer, who leads the all-time men’s list with 20 major titles, and distance himself from Djokovic, who has 16.
Nadal faces No. 20 seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina — whom he is 7-0 against — on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
Up until this point, it had been a lackluster year for Dimitrov, having gone 1-7 in his last eight matches entering the US Open. Previously ranked as high as No. 3 in the world in 2017, Dimitrov currently is 78th — his lowest ranking since he was 87th on June 4, 2012.
Dimitrov is the lowest-ranked grand slam semifinalist since No. 94 Rainer Schuettler at Wimbledon in 2008 and the lowest-ranked US Open semifinalist since Jimmy Connors at No. 174 in 1991.
This will be the Bulgarian’s third career major semifinal, having also reached this stage at the Australian Open in 2017 and Wimbledon in 2014.
This story was first published on CNN.com, “Roger Federer stunned by Grigor Dimitrov in US Open quarterfinals.”
