{"id":32003,"date":"2017-11-20T13:38:45","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T08:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=32003"},"modified":"2017-11-20T13:38:45","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T08:38:45","slug":"dimitrov-comes-of-age-to-win-atp-finals-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=32003","title":{"rendered":"Dimitrov comes of age to win ATP Finals title"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON Nov 20 (TNS):<\/strong> \u00a0Grigor Dimitrov claimed the biggest title of his career and sent out a huge statement of intent as the stylish Bulgarian beat David Goffin 7-5 4-6 6-3 to win the ATP Finals.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old recovered from losing his opening two service games to finally get the better of the willowy Belgian player, but it was fiercely-fought two-and-a-half hour duel with Goffin saving four match points before finally succumbing.<\/p>\n

Dimitrov\u2019s unbeaten run this week in London earned him $2.5 million while the 1,500 ranking points have catapulted him to end an impressive year ranked third in the world — behind only all-time greats Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

More significantly perhaps, landing the unofficial \u201cfifth\u201d grand slam appears to be proof that the former junior Wimbledon champion, once dubbed \u2018Baby Federer\u2019 because of his easy-on-the-eye style, has finally come of age.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an amazing week for me,\u201d Dimitrov said on court after becoming the first player to win the elite eight-man tournament on his first appearance in the event since Spaniard Alex Corretja beat countryman Carlos Moya in 1998.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such an honour to be here and this week has been one of the best weeks I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was still on court nearly an hour after the match ended, signing autographs for the sizeable Bulgarian contingent who had roared their man to victory.<\/p>\n

Yet it was tough on Goffin who, like Dimitrov, was his country\u2019s first qualifier for the ATP Finals.<\/p>\n

His substantial consolation, though, was to end the year at a career-high seventh, having become only the sixth man to beat Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the same tournament.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He will need to recover fast from the two hour 30 minute final — the longest since the event adopted a three-set format — as a Davis Cup final looms in France next weekend.<\/p>\n

Many of the capacity crowd in the O2 Arena had doubtless booked their tickets in anticipation of watching the top two seeds Federer and Nadal go head-to-head but the two newcomers provided a fitting end to an extraordinary ATP season.<\/p>\n

Goffin managed only two games against Dimitrov when they met on Wednesday in group play but recovered to beat Dominic Thiem to reach the semis where he stunned six-times champion Federer.<\/p>\n

For Dimitrov, he was quickly a different proposition in the final, using his pinpoint accuracy to keep his gifted opponent under control and he was way ahead on the winner count as he moved 4-3 ahead.<\/p>\n

A double-fault at 30-30 followed by a wayward forehand, though, gifted Dimitrov a break and seemed to energise the Bulgarian.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dimitrov began to assert himself and piled on the pressure when Goffin served at 5-6. Goffin saved four set points, two with forehand winners, but double-faulted on a game point of his own before Dimitrov forced an error to wrap up the opener.<\/p>\n

Goffin needed just one break of serve to take the match into a decider and looked the more likely winner for a while but when Dimitrov survived a 10-minute service game at the start of the third, saving four break points, it proved crucial.<\/p>\n

With Goffin beginning to tire, Dimitrov moved 5-2 ahead with a break and then went 0-40 ahead on Goffin\u2019s serve.<\/p>\n

Somehow Goffin survived to extend the contest to another game and saved another match point on the Bulgarian\u2019s serve.<\/p>\n

He looked poised to save another one as he stretched Dimitrov all over the court but with the court at his mercy he put an attempted drop-volley into the net.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON Nov 20 (TNS): \u00a0Grigor Dimitrov claimed the biggest title of his career and sent out a huge statement of intent as the stylish Bulgarian beat David Goffin 7-5 4-6 6-3 to win the ATP Finals. The 26-year-old recovered from losing his opening two service games to finally get the better of the willowy Belgian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[330],"class_list":["post-32003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32009,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32003\/revisions\/32009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}