Singles Championship Match: [6] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs. [8] David Goffin (BEL)
It was a week that has to be the best that Dimitrov has ever experienced; he made his debut at the ATP Finals and went undefeated to win the title. It was not an easy victory against an opponent he had a 3:1 advantage against; an opponent he had dismissed quite easily in the round robin stage.
Both players battled nerves early and the result was three consecutive breaks in the first set. Goffin broke again to take the lead and all he had to do was hold on to his serve and the first set would have been his; yet, memories of his recent loss and the magnitude of the occasion all conspired to rattled the Belgian and he gave the lead away in eighth game. He still had an opportunity to force a tiebreak, but just could not convert on his advantage points.
Despite losing the first set after coming so close, Goffin did not give up. He fought back and broke Dimitrov in the seventh game and this time he held on to win the second set; yet it came at a price. Playing with a taped left knee, the physical toll of losing the first set caught up to him and he was visibly struggling with his movement in the third set. Rattled perhaps by the knowledge that he would not be able to stay in the rallies, he tried to be more aggressive; however, that was his undoing.
Dimitrov was in no mood to show any mercy and he fought off the four break chances Goffin had to potentially force the match to a tiebreak. A slew of unforced errors from the Belgian and inconsistency on his first serve was the tale of the match and those errors proved to be too costly against a power player like the Bulgarian.
Dimitrov won 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to claim his first ATP Finals title and capped his 2017 season with a new career high ranking.
SOURCE OF IMAGES: serveandrally
