Highlights: Murray/Soares Keep Tournament Hopes Alive
Highlights: Murray/Soares Keep Tournament Hopes Alive
Nov152017
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Briton Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares kept their hopes alive at the ATP Finals with victory over Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers in the doubles.
Defeat would have ended their chances of reaching the last four, but they won their second round-robin match 6-1 6-1.
They next face Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who grabbed the first semi-final spot from the group with a 6-4 6-3 win over Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.
Murray and Soares lost their opening match against the Bryans on Monday.
They were in unstoppable form on day four, however, powering through in 53 minutes without facing a single break point.
A victory on Friday against the year-end number one team of Poland’s Kubot and Brazilian Melo will seem them through to the last four.
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Watch five of the best shots as Grigor Dimitov manages to thrash David Goffin and make it to the semi-finals of the ATP Finals in London.
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Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov thrashed Belgian seventh seed David Goffin at London’s O2 Arena to make it through to the last four on his ATP finals debut.
Sixth seed Dimitrov made it two wins out of two in the Pete Sampras Group with a 6-0 6-2 victory over Goffin.
“You get a few days out of the year that whatever you touch turns to gold, and that was the first set,” said Dimitrov.
Dominic Thiem plays Pablo Carreno Busta in Wednesday’s late match at 20:00 GMT.
Six-time champion Roger Federer is already through to the semis from the Boris Becker Group, with Alexander Zverev or Jack Sock to join him.
“My goal was to reach the weekend, every match is very important to me,” added Dimitrov. “I am not here just to participate.”
It took just 74 minutes for Dimitrov to sweep past Goffin and into the semi-finals as the fired-up Bulgarian was unexpectedly dominant.
“It’s a special win for me,” said the Bulgarian.
“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. I felt I could have played more.”
Both men went into the contest knowing a victory could take them through with one group match remaining, but Goffin must now produce a much better performance in his final round-robin tie against Pablo Carreno Busta on Friday.
A loud Dimitrov scream followed the deft drop volley that brought an immediate break of serve and he raced through the opening set in just 27 minutes, for the loss of 12 points.
There was little sign of a comeback when Goffin gave up another break with a double fault early in the second, and it took 48 minutes before the Belgian finally got on the scoreboard with a smash in game 10.
A brief disagreement with the umpire over a coaching violation provided the only interruption to Dimitrov’s progress, and he would wrap up the victory on his third match point with a thumping forehand winner down the line.
“You have days like that, you work for those days. It is nice when it comes in such an occasion, I am humbled to win that match,” said Dimitrov.
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Both winners on Monday, David Goffin and Grigor Dimitrov now have the opportunity to book their place in the semi…
Not content to rest on his laurels, David Goffin knows it is all still to play for at the Nitto ATP Finals on Wednesday after his upset of World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in his opening match. While acknowledging that the Spaniard wasn’t at his physical best, the Belgian’s confidence will be sky-high when he takes on No. 6 seed Grigor Dimitrov in Group Pete Sampras.
Semi-final berths are up for grabs. Should Goffin back up his defeat of Nadal with a straight-sets result over the Bulgarian, he will automatically qualify. If he prevails in three sets, he will need Pablo Carreno Busta to defeat Dominic Thiem. If Dimitrov wins, regardless of the score, he will qualify for Saturday’s semi-final.
“I have to continue to play like that, to continue to play my game, to stay focused on what I have to do on the court,” Goffin said. “I think I was feeling the ball really well [against Nadal]. Now the next match will be tough. Every match is tough here.
“It’s not because you won the first match that you are safe for the next one, no. You have to restart again, prepare the match as always, and be ready for another big fight.”
While Goffin’s triumph over Nadal made him the first Belgian to defeat a World No. 1, Dimitrov made an impressive start of his own on Monday, when he took down No. 4 seed Dominic Thiem in a tight three-setter.
Dimitrov leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Goffin 3-1, with three of those clashes coming this year. The Bulgarian prevailed in the Australian Open quarter-finals and on home soil in the Sofia final, however Goffin gained revenge in the quarter-finals of Rotterdam’s indoor hard courts at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament. “David has been having a tremendous end of the season, built up a lot of confidence, a lot of momentum,” Dimitrov said.
The Bulgarian started his season with a 16-1 record, including a first ATP World Tour title in 2 ½ years at the Brisbane International and a second Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open. Silverware also followed in Sofia and a first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati (d. Kyrgios). Goffin reached back-to-back finals in Sofia (l. Dimitrov) and Rotterdam (l. to Tsonga) and after returning from a freak ankle injury at Roland Garros, ended a six-match losing run with back-to-back titles at Shenzhen (d. Dolgopolov) and Tokyo (d. Mannarino).
Goffin is the first Belgian to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. While he played one match in 2016 as an alternate, following Gael Monfils’ withdrawal, this is the first year he qualified outright. Dimitrov is also flying the flag for his nation, as the first Bulgarian to contest the season finale.
“It’s not only big for me, I think it’s for my whole country, for Bulgaria,” Dimitrov said. “It’s great for me to show that everything is possible. You push the boundaries, doesn’t matter where you’re from, it’s all up to you, everything is in your hands. Basically whatever you put in is what you get.
“I think for the people, just to realise that whatever you put your mind to, if you push those boundaries every day, if you work hard, the sky’s the limit. You can dream every day.”
Watch Full Match Replays
View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup for the Group Pete Sampras matches to be played Wednesday at the Nitto ATP Finals and vote for who you think will win!
Dimitrov vs. Goffin | Thiem vs. Carreno Busta
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