Grigor Dimitrov qualified for his second final in the Masters 1000 series tournaments. Bulgaria's best men's tennis player defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-7 (1), 7-6 (3) in the semifinals in Paris. The match lasted a little over two and a half hours.
The match in the "Bersi" hall started off great for the Bulgarian - an early breakthrough, and complete control over what was happening on the court. Grigor was serving great and could have closed the set as early as the eighth game when the Greek was serving, but in the end it happened on his own serve for 6-3. In the second set, the seventh-seeded Tsitsipas leveled the game and started to serve skillfully. In the ninth game, Dimitrov had two hidden match points, but he squandered them, and so it came to a tiebreak. In it, things went badly for our tennis player from the start and Tsitsipas quickly pulled away with 5-0 points before closing the set with 7-1 points. In the decider, Grigor overcame a critical moment in the third game when he fended off his opponent's first four break points of the match. Another long game ensued in which the roles were reversed and the 32-year-old from Haskovo raced to a 5-0 lead before cruising to a stunning victory with 7-3 points.
Dimitrov served very strongly and although Tsitsipas served twice as many aces, won his first tiebreak against him at the most crucial moment. The Bulgarian finished with more winners - 42 to 31, and fewer unforced errors - 10 to 13.
Thus, our first racket will play in the final of a tournament of the Masters 1000 series for the second time - the first and only time so far this happened in Cincinnati in 2017, when Grigor also won the title. He will challenge for a first title in Paris tomorrow, with his opponent to be determined by the other semi-final later tonight pitting six-time title winner and world No.1 Novak Djokovic against Russia's Andrey Rublev.
Tsitsipas, who lost to Dimitrov for only the second time in eight meetings, turns his attention to the ATP Finals, which will be held in Turin between November 12-19. /BGNES
