Dimitrov upsets Tsitsipas to move into Paris final
Grigor Dimitrov advanced to his second ATP Masters 1000 final and first since 2017 after upsetting Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 7-6 (7-3) at the Paris Masters in Paris.
The Bulgarian, who won the Nitto ATP Finals trophy in 2017 – his most recent tournament triump – moved within one victory of a second trophy lift after beating Tsitsipas for only the second time in eight meetings with the Greek.
"I am just happy I was able to get through that match in such a manner," 32-year-old Bulgarian Dimitrov said.
"After that second set, especially the tie-break, it was getting very tricky again. 15-40 down in the third again and I was just thinking it can't keep going like this, so I have to change something. In order to beat someone like him I just had to step through. That is the only thing I could have done.
"Throughout the match I felt I was doing a lot of good things and in the middle of the second [set] he picked up his game and in the end I waited for the tie-break.
"The first five points in the tie-break were excellent. I took those chances and that was all I could do against such a high-quality player.
"If you let [Tsitsipas] dictate you are done. But I kept on believing and kept staying focused and made sure everytime I had the ball on the racquet, I did something with it."
