Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov upset Russian Daniil Medvedev, world number three, at the Paris Masters 1,000, who once again ventured with the French public and, after threatening a comeback, lost 6-3, 6-7(4) and 7-6(2).
A day after the last Masters 1,000 of the year lost the number 2 favorite, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, he also saw the first changes of the number 3 saying goodbye, losing concentration again due to his battles with the stands , something that also happened to him at Roland Garros.
Medvedev complained about the crowd’s noise, made provocative gestures and even refused to serve until there was silence, earning him a warning from the referee for wasting time.
The match then entered an electric moment, the Russian managed to equalize after having seven balls to score in the second set, which he achieved after a public dispute and after breaking a racket on the ground. And, in a clear gesture of contempt for the stands, play a point that it is broken.
But in the third set he fell victim to a lack of concentration and succumbed to an opponent, ranked 17th in the world, whom he has beaten three times this year, last week in Vienna. The Russian got back up to six match points before going down on his knees.
He sold his skin. In the third set they were down 5-2 and, at 5-3, they saved four match points, some of them cold. The Bulgarian had two more at 6-5, but the Russian managed to force a tiebreaker game where, however, he saw his resistance run out.
Dimitrov, 32 years old, only reached the semifinals in Chengdu, the quarterfinals in Beijing and the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters 1,000, while in the first round in Paris he defeated the Italian Lorenzo Musetti in three sets, he showed that he will go . by a good moment of shape.
It was the tenth time the Bulgarian had beaten a top 10 player, the second in less than a month, since he beat Alcaraz in the last Shanghai Masters 1,000.
The world number 3, who after eliminating arch-rival Alcaraz to prevent Serbian Novak Djokovic from adding a seventh crown on the banks of the Seine, comes after reaching two finals since losing the United States Open against the number 1, the one in Beijing and Vienna, in both cases was defeated by the Italian Jannik Sinner.
And he’s looking for his sixth tournament of the year, his third Masters 1,000, after Rome and Miami.
But the public divorce of Paris, which had already played some tricks on him at Roland Garros, again took its toll, with Dimitrov’s good moment showing calm and experience and not collapsing after succumbing in the second round.
A semifinalist in 2019 in Paris, Dimitrov will face Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the round of 16, who defeated Chilean Nicolás Jarry in the second round on Tuesday.
Also surprising was the elimination of American Tommi Paul, twelfth seed, at the hands of Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, from the qualifying phase, 6-4, 2-6 and 6-3, thus adding his fifth win of the year against a top20 .
The world number 60, 28 years old, did not break when Paul came back in the first set and kept his service game high to score a match that will put him in the round of 16, where he will face Russian Andrey Rublev, fifth. bone.
He was the second Dutchman in that round, along with Tallon Griekspoor, who after defeating Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich will face the winner of the duel between Djokovic and Argentine Tomás Martín Etcheverry.
Source: La Verdad
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