Grigor Dimitrov showed no sign of giving up on the fight to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals with a gutsy opening-round win at the Erste Bank Open on Wednesday.
The third seed kick-started his campaign in Vienna with a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 triumph against China's Zhang Zhizhen. Dimitrov, who was ousted by Tommy Paul in the Stockholm final last week, bounced back from a sluggish start to clinch a clinical one-hour and 37-minute victory upon return to the Austrian capital.
“The conditions from last week to today are so different. In the end, I just had to somehow find a way, but I have so much experience in moments like that,” said Dimitrov, who improved to 44-16 on the season.
“At the beginning, I was playing alright, but I wasn’t able to hit my spots on the serve very well. In the second set, I almost had too many opportunities, but in the last game, I had a little more authority which helped me to step through and put a little more pressure on him.”
Dimi focus 😤
The 2022 semi-finalist off to a solid start in Vienna#ErsteBankOpen | @ErsteBankOpen | @GrigorDimitrov pic.twitter.com/tUQi0vru30
In his pursuit of qualifying for a second appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals (champion, 2017), Dimitrov has reclaimed 10th place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. The 33-year-old trails eight-placed Andrey Rublev by 520 points, who is the top seed in Basel this week.
Dimitrov leads the Tour with indoor hard-court match wins in 2024 (11-5), and could strengthen his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals with strong runs in Vienna and at the Rolex Paris Masters.
After dropping serve in the opening game, Dimitrov sprung to life to convert each of the two break points he created, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to steal the first set. Zhang hung tight and kept within touching distance throughout the second, before eventually creating two more break chances of his own in the 11th game.
However, Dimitrov found two ferocious forehand winners to come through the game unscathed before sealing an ultimately decisive break to clinch victory. Dimitrov will next face Tomas Machac, who surged to a 7-6(5), 6-1 triumph against Fabian Marozsan.
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Elsewhere, Tommy Paul suffered a major setback in his bid to qualify for his Nitto ATP Finals debut with a first-round loss to countryman Brandon Nakashima. The fourth seed, who clinched his third ATP Tour title of 2024 last week in Stockholm, appeared to struggle physically en route to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat.
“He’s definitely a high-level player, and to be able to play well against him consistently is great for me, it gives me a lot of confidence,” said Nakashima, who improved to 4-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
“I took care of my own serves, and got a lot of opportunities on his serve. I was able to capitalise on a few of them, so I am really happy with my overall consistency.”
The defeat, which was his first on indoor hard courts this season (8-1), leaves Paul in 11th place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, trailing Rublev by 535 points.
In a ruthless display, Nakashima carved 11 break point opportunities throughout the match and faced just one on his own serve. The 23-year-old was particularly dialled in throughout the second set, during which he won 81 per cent (17/21) of points behind his first delivery.
Nakashima will next face Almaty champion Karen Khachanov, who claimed a 6-2, 6-4 win over Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild.
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