Grigor Dimitrov beats David Goffin in three sets to secure first ATP World Tour Finals title

By beating Belgium’s David Goffin 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to win the Nitto ATP Finals, Dimitrov became the first debutant to win the singles title at the year-end championships since Alex Corretja in 1998

Sunday 19 November 2017 21:34 GMT
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Grigor Dimitrov outlasted Goffin to win in three sets at The O2
Grigor Dimitrov outlasted Goffin to win in three sets at The O2

It has taken Grigor Dimitrov time to secure his place among the game’s elite but the 26-year-old Bulgarian confirmed his arrival as a major contender on the game’s greatest stages by recording the biggest victory of his career here on Sunday night.

By beating Belgium’s David Goffin 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to win the Nitto ATP Finals, Dimitrov became the first debutant to win the singles title at the year-end championships since Alex Corretja in 1998. It was the perfect end to one of the best weeks of tennis the O2 Arena has staged since the finals first came here in 2009. At two hours and 30 minutes it was the longest three-set final in this event since John McEnroe beat Arthur Ashe in New York in 1978.

Dimitrov earned $2,549,000 (about £1.93m) in prize money and will climb to a career-high No 3 in Monday’s updated world ranking list, but what will surely please the Bulgarian more than anything else is the fact that he has proved that he has the ability to carry off the game’s biggest prizes. The only bigger tournaments than this in the whole year are the four Grand Slam events.

Dimitrov won the season-ending tournament for the first time 

When he beat Andy Murray to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon in the summer of 2014 it seemed that it would be only a matter of time before Dimitrov would conquer the world, but the intervening three and a half years have not always been easy for him.

Dimitrov spent 12 months languishing outside the world’s top 20 before the appointment of Dani Vallverdu as his coach in the summer of 2016 led to a significant upturn in his fortunes. The Bulgarian won his first Masters Series title in Cincinnati in the summer and has now added an even greater prize.

The result was hard on Goffin, who has won more matches this year (57) than any player other than Rafael Nadal and contributed much to an excellent final. The Belgian, who will climb to a career-high No 7 in the rankings after this, now has to lift himself again for next weekend’s Davis Cup final against France in Lille.

This was perhaps the most unlikely final line-up in the competition’s 47-year history. It was the only occasion that two first-time qualifiers have contested the final and the only time when players from Bulgaria and Belgium had even made the starting line-up.

Dimitrov outlasted Goffin in three sets 

The tournament had been billed as a showdown between the two great rivals who had dominated the 2017 season, but Nadal’s dodgy right knee lasted only one match and Roger Federer faded badly in his semi-final, both men losing to Goffin.

Some might have regarded the final match-up as an anti-climax after such an exhilarating season had been dominated by two of the biggest names in the sport’s history, but Goffin and Dimitrov served up a contest to remember.

It was a total contrast to their meeting in the round-robin stage, which Dimitrov won for the loss of only two games. This time Goffin played some superb attacking tennis and struck 37 winners, 20 more than Dimitrov, but it was the Bulgarian’s consistency and resilience that proved decisive.

Neither man has the identikit build for a modern player – Goffin stands just 5ft 11in tall while the 6ft 3in Dimitrov has a particularly slender frame – but what they might lack in raw power they more than make up for with their speed, athleticism and glorious stroke-making.

There were plenty of unforced errors (42 by Goffin and 29 by Dimitrov) as the players went for their shots but also a succession of outstanding rallies as both men regularly turned desperate defence into thrilling attack.

Dimitrov celebrates 

Goffin broke in the opening game with a thumping forehand cross-court return winner, dropped his own serve in the second after missing two successive backhands and broke again in the third with a wonderful wrong-footing backhand cross-court pass. Dimitrov, nevertheless, broke back for 4-4 and again in the twelfth game as Goffin netted a forehand on his opponent’s fifth set point.

Dimitrov had a point for a 4-2 lead in the second set, but Goffin appeared to draw inspiration from the glorious backhand cross-court winner which kept him in that game.

Upping the tempo, Goffin made the only break of serve in the set to go 4-3 up. The shot of the match – a stunning backhand half-volley winner from one baseline to the other – helped Dimitrov to hang on in the next game, but Goffin served out to level the match.

With the Belgian flying, Dimitrov dug deep at the start of the third set, saving four break points in the opening game. Goffin has won more deciding sets this year (22 of the 28 he has played) than any other player on the tour, but at 3-4 he finally cracked, missing a backhand on break point.

At 3-5 Goffin saved three match points from 0-40 down and after holding serve encouraged the crowd to turn up the noise level even higher.

Dimitrov becomes the first debutant to win the tournament since 1998 

When the Belgian saved another match point at 40-15 in the following game the stadium was at fever pitch. He should have won the next point, too, but after playing a superb point the Belgian netted what should have been a winning volley. It was a cruel end to a memorable contest.

Dimitrov thought his victory was a reward for all the hard work he had put in this year. “I felt I had a good mental toughness throughout the whole year and physically we kept on working,” he said after the match. “This is not just a result of one or two weeks’ work. It’s the result of the last off-season, the whole year so far.”

He also paid tribute to Vallverdu, who was a long-time member of Murray’s coaching entourage. “I think we have a great understanding of the game,” Dimitrov said. “He can easily be the hardest-working coach out there. He knows the game inside-out. A lot of that success is down to him.”

Goffin said the tournament had demonstrated his own improvement as a player both mentally and physically. “I proved to myself that I’m in the right place and I deserve to be here in this tournament,” he said. “Match after match, I took more confidence until the final. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved, even if I’m disappointed about the final.”

Finland’s Henri Kontinen and Australia’s John Peers, who beat Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in the semi-finals, retained their doubles title by beating Poland’s Lukasz Kubot and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo 6-4, 6-2.

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