Sublime Dimitrov thrashes Goffin to reach semis
LONDON (Reuters) - Grigor Dimitrov stopped listening to the Roger Federer comparisons years ago but produced tennis the Swiss maestro would have been proud of to destroy David Goffin and reach the semifinals of the ATP Finals on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old has not always handled the expectations placed on his shoulders after he won the Wimbledon junior title in 2008 with a game style uncannily like Federer’s.
But after qualifying for the ATP Finals for the first time having climbed to a career-high sixth in the world, Dimitrov is starting to revel on the sport’s biggest stages.
His 6-0, 6-2 thrashing of Belgium’s Goffin in the O2 Arena followed Monday’s tense three-set win over Dominic Thiem when he became the first Bulgarian to take part in the elite tournament for the top eight players in its 48-year history.
Goffin, another first-time qualifier, battled to victory against hobbling world number one Rafael Nadal on Monday, but was powerless to stop Dimitrov in full flow.
Dimitrov, who claimed his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati this year and reached the Australian Open semifinals, was on another level, winning 12 of the first 15 points, striking 18 winners, winning 72 percent of his service points and facing one break point.
“I was just thinking, there are only a few days in the year when everything you touch turns to gold and that was the first set,” Dimitrov said.
“But I work for those days. And when it comes on such an occasion, it’s special. “My movement was great, I was reading the game really well and believing in my shots.
“The next thing you know the match is over.”
Goffin, who wore tape on his left knee but declared himself 100 percent fit, can still qualify and discovered what he had to do after Thiem, his last round-robin opponent, faced Nadal’s stand-in Pablo Carreno Busta later Wednesday.
Roger Federer is awaiting the second-place finisher in the Pete Sampras Group after marching into the semifinals once again on Tuesday, prevailing 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-1 in a high-quality battle of the generations with Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
The triumph in two hours and 11 minutes ensured the 19-times grand slam champion booked a place in the last four for the 14th time in 15 appearances.
It also meant that Zverev and Jack Sock will meet on Thursday to decide the other qualifier from the Boris Becker group.