TT, Dimitrov was definitely ball bashing but because he was lacking confidence, he came up short on most shots. Nadal is of course far smarter than this and was under the sun one too many times.
And yes, agree. He does love the comparison. His game very much reflects Federer' which he must have modeled upon though he wouldn't admit it. The only thing that doesn't resemble too much of Federer is that, Dimitrov plays too far behind the baseline at times and yesterday, he was further behind than Nadal ever was in his whole career. It suits Nadal since that's his style of play but if you are going to be aggressive and attacking, that position doesn't make any sense.
He definitely could have played better if he hadn't tried to be such a showboat as you mentioned. I didn't mind the way he lost though. It was time Nadal put him in place.
Raonic gave a fantastic fight on the other hand. I was at least 70% sure Nole was losing the match to him as soon as he got to 2nd set TB. But luckily or not, Nole pulled off the TB and perhaps a bit of choking from Raonic was involved too.