Against history and Djokovic: Grigor Dimitrov is in contention for the title in Paris – Sport

Grigor Dimitrov and Novak Djokovic face each other today in the final match of the tennis tournament of the “Masters” series in Paris. The Bulgarian and the world No. 1 will play for the trophy in the last race of the season in the 1000 category in the Bersi hall.

The meeting is at 16:00 Bulgarian time and will be broadcast on “Max Sport 1”.

Dimitrov reached this stage after a remarkable run in which he eliminated Lorenzo Musetti, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Bublik, Hubert Hurkach and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“I’m not going to cry, but I’m very emotional. I’m living the moment. What’s been happening lately is wonderful,” Dimitrov said after the semi-final.

Djokovic’s path, which is seeded No. 1 and started from the second round, included Tomas Martin Echeverri, Talon Grikspor, Holger Rune and Andrei Rublev.

The match between Dimitrov and Djokovic will be the 13th in their rivalry. So far, the Serbian has 11 victories, and Dimitrov won only in 2013 in Madrid, namely in the “Masters” tournament. Since then, Djokovic is on a nine-match winning streak.

The two have met twice this year – at the Australian Open, where Djokovic won cleanly, and in Rome, where Dimitrov was able to take a set.

The Bulgarian tennis player will play in the final for the second time in 2023. In May, Dimitrov lost the match for the title in the ATP 250 tournament in Geneva. In total, in his career, the Bulgarian appears for the 17th time in the final match, and so far he has eight wins and eight losses.

Dimitrov has not won a title since 2017.

Only in the “Masters” category, this is the second final for Dimitrov, who triumphed in Cincinnati in 2017. At the end of the same year, Dimitrov also won the title at the final “Masters” in London.

Djokovic will play in his seventh final this year, with one loss so far, which came at Wimbledon to Carlos Alcaraz. The Serbian is also fighting for a record seventh title in the Bersi Hall, where he also lost two finals – in 2018 to Karen Khachanov and in 2022 to Holger Rune.

Grigor Dimitrov is posting his strongest season since 2017. Before the brilliant performance in Paris, he also played in the semi-final in Shanghai.

Dimitrov already has 41 wins on the year, which he has achieved for the third time in his career. In Paris, the Bulgarian eliminated two players from the Top 10 – Daniil Medvedev (#3) in the second round and Stefanos Tsitsipas (#6) in the semifinals. Dimitrov has not recorded such an achievement since the final “Masters” in London.

The Bulgarian also set a record in the Paris hall. For the first time in his career, he beat five Top 30 players in the rankings.