By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday March 29, 2024
Grigor Dimitrov notched his third consecutive Top-10 win to reach the Miami final on Friday night.
Photo Source: TTV
These days, everything about Grigor Dimitrov screams renaissance
The 32-year-old Bulgarian is enjoying a stunning return to form in 2024, and his good fortunes – and stellar tennis – continued on Friday night in Miami as he ousted longtime nemesis Alexander Zverev to reach his third Masters 1000 final, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4.
The victory was impressive on many levels for the former World No.3. Dimitrov has now recorded back-to-back Top-5 wins at the same event for the first time since January of 2017, and by doing so he has ensured himself a Top-10 return in Monday’s ATP rankings. It has been 260 weeks since Dimitrov last held a Top-10 ranking, and that gap between stints in the Top-10 goes down as the third-longest in ATP history.
It’s been a while.
Dimitrov acknowleged the depth of his journey on the court, explaining what it meant to him to have such a sweet victory, and to be returning to the Top 10 after so long.
"I think all that comes with all the work that we have put in as a team,” Dimitrov said on court after his victory. “I'm on a very different path in my life, in my career. There's a lot that was done, a lot of work, a lot of everything behind it.
"I kept on believing, I kept on thriving, I kept on having faith in myself, and also when I didn’t really believe in myself enough, all the team around me was constantly pushing me in the right direction – it’s all love at the end of the day, I think this is just the cherry on the cake."
Turning the Tide
Dimitrov has always been a majestic talent on the tennis court, but not since 2017, a season that saw him rise to No.3 in the world after he finished off a title run at the Nitto ATP Finals, has he been in such possession of his powers. After making Carlos Alcaraz feel ‘Like a 13-year-old’ in his straight sets victory over the top seed on Thursday in Miami (yes, Alcaraz said that), Dimitrov set upon the task of earning his first win over hard-serving Zverev in ten seasons.
He had lost seven in a row to the former World No.2, and Zverev very nearly made it eight on Friday as he rallied from a set down to force a decider, but Dimitrov held his nerve and serve the whole way, and eventually finished off one of the most satisfying wins of his career.
The Bulgarian saved both break points he faced over the course of the two hour and 37-minute tussle, and he took the first set on the strength of a late break, as Zverev faltered while serving to stay in the set at 4-5.
The fifth-ranked German held tough in the middle set and eventually took his chances in a tiebreak.
If Zverev had the momentum early in the third, the 2024 version of Dimitrov is all about flipping scripts, and he did that in dramatic fashion when he engineered a break for 4-3 in the decider. The point itself was a wild one, with Dimitrov falling to the court as he swatted the ball out of mid-air for a winner and the only lead he would need.
“I don’t really remember,” Dimitrov said of the phenomenal break point conversion. “I just thought I’m seeing the ball, I am going to try to scramble for it, and that’s what happened. It was honestly like a dogfight on both ends, we really went after each other. Especially after that first set, I felt like Sascha upped his game a little bit. He was very strong throughout the second set, and constantly putting a lot of pressure on me.
“In the third set he had one chance and I served well. And then I stayed, and I kept on going after my shots and I think in the end I played with a little bit more authority and I was moving the ball very well.”
Minutes later it was over. The Bulgarian finished by winning his last 12 points on serve to take his place in the final against Jannik Sinner, the No.2-seeded Italian who earlier had defiantly waltzed past defending champion Daniil Medvedev 6-1, 6-2 to become the youngest player to ever reach three finals at the Miami Open.
A Legend in Grigor's Corner
The match was played with a vibrant spirit in a tremendous atmosphere. Even eight-time Miami Open Serena Williams – clearly partial to Dimitrov – was in attendance.
Dimitrov improves to 20-4 on the season with his win – he and Sinner are the only ATP players to have reached the 20-win plateau in 2024. Sinner has taken the last two meetings with Dimitrov (2-1 lifetime) but the Dimitrov aura is strong at the moment. Given the level that Sinner has hit in 2024, it will have to be…