Grigor Dimitrov entered Melbourne with his career-best seed at a Grand Slam event. At the three-seed, he sits just behind two legends who have combined for a grand total of 35 major championships in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The Bulgarian is looking to break through to win his first major title but has not displayed his best form at the Australian Open to date.

Nevertheless, the 26-year-old is taking things in stride with a survive-and-advance mentality.

After his 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win against Andrey Rublev in the second round, Dimitrov put his current mentality into focus. “You don’t win slams in the first week, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “You need to go through those matches and that’s the case right now…How I win right now, I love it, on days that you don’t feel the best and those are the matches that count a lot. And the bigger upside is that it can only get better now and that hopefully for the next match I can be even better.”

Dimitrov said he sees improvement in his game from the beginning of the tournament. “I felt that from the first match to the second, even today, that certain things were working a little bit better and I am adjusting more.”

Many targeted Dimitrov as one of the players who could break up the current Federer-Nadal stranglehold on Grand Slam titles in 2018 after he finished last season by winning the ATP World Tour Finals in London.  He won 20 of his last 25 matches in 2017 and earned a Masters title in Cincinnati during his impressive run. Dimitrov pushed Nadal to the brink in a five-set semifinal loss in Melbourne last year.

After finishing the season on such a high, Dimitrov acknowledged that he needed a break after the ATP World Tour Finals. “It was such a short window of like having to rest. I think that was more important to me just to kind of rest. Not physically, it was mainly just mentally and make sure that when I come back in the offseason I’m going to be ready to start pushing again. It all comes down to that. And I think I managed well for the time that I had.”

Dimitrov’s next match could be one of the most competitive of the tournament when he takes on the Australian favorite Nick Kyrgios with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals. Suffice it to say, he will need to bring his A-level game against a player who has played strong in his first three matches and will have loud support from the Australian crowd.

The two have played three times with Dimitrov winning two of those. However, Kyrgios won their last meeting earlier in the month at Brisbane.