Paris Masters Grigor Dimitrov reaches the final by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas

(Paris) The Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (17^e world player), who has not won a single title for six years, qualified on Saturday for the final of the Masters 1000 at Paris-Bercy by beating the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (6^e) 6-3, 6-7 (7/1), 7-6 (7/3).

In the final, he will face either the Serbian world No.1 Novak Djokovic, six times winner of the tournament and finalist last year, or the Russian Andrey Rublev (5^e).

The Bulgarian will play his second Masters 1000 final, six years after the first.

He did not concede the slightest break in the match, against Tsitsipas who obtained his first break points after almost two hours of play.

Perfectly entering the match, Dimitrov produced a first round of great quality, winning 6-3 in 39 minutes.

The Bulgarian was impeccable on his serve (92% of points won behind his first ball in the first set).

In the second set, Tsitsipas resisted more, and even saved two break points at 4-4, to return to a set everywhere by flying over the decisive game 7-6 (7/1), without having obtained a single ball of breaks since the start of the match.

Dimitrov managed to save four break points in the third game – the Greek’s first – to hold his serve until the tiebreaker and win 7-6 (7/3) after 2 hours 31 minutes of play .

This is only Dimitrov’s second victory in eight confrontations against the Greek, against whom he had five defeats in a row.

“It’s unreal for me, as he’s one of the best competitors [du circuit]he is so aggressive on every point, you can’t relax, he is top 10 for a while,” the Bulgarian said on court after his victory.

The beautiful Parisian week continues for Dimitrov, which will allow him to rejoin the top 15 for the first time since 2018, after notably dismissing world No.3 Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

In good shape since the beginning of autumn, the 32-year-old Bulgarian notably made a semi-final in Chengdu (China), a quarter-final in Beijing and a semi-final at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai during the Asian tour. .

“I have worked very hard these last few months, it has not always been easy, above all I am very grateful,” he also said.

He will try to win the ninth trophy of his career, his first since the Masters won in London in 2017.

Tsitsipas, who reached the semi-finals without losing a single set, was eliminated at the same stage of the competition as last year (beaten by Djokovic) but this week won his ticket to compete in the Masters which brings together the eight best players of the season in Turin (Italy) mid-November.