If only he never left…
Grigor Dimitrov left Wimbledon in tears after being forced out by a pectoral tear while holding eventual champion Jannik Sinner down two sets to love.
A little more than three months later, the 34-year-old is back and showing good form. He battled past Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-6(5), 6-1 to book a second-round clash with either Jaume Munar or Daniil Medvedev.
It was brilliant stuff from start to finish for the former Paris finalist.
“It’s never happened to me, so I guess I’m still trying to wrap my head around all the time away from the court,” Dimitrov said after his win at La Defense Arena. “It’s never been easy. I knew coming into the race it was going to be a tough task. I just wanted to go out and test myself, give myself a chance.
“It was a good night. I’m taking it and just going one day at a time at the moment.”
Dimitrov hit 26 winners and broke serve three times against one of the deadliest servers in a game. He hit 16 forehand winners and won 16 of 21 points at the net to improve to 18-11 on the season and 25-12 lifetime in Paris.
Dimitrov is one of four players, along with Novak Djokovic, Boris Becker and Tomas Berdych, to have won 25 matches at the Paris Masters.
In other action, 2018 champion Karen Khachanov cruised past Ethan Quinn 6-1, 6-1 in 60 minutes to close out the night’s session.
American student Tien took his first win in Paris, in straight sets against Nuno Borges, while Brandon Nakashima (loss to Muller), Sebastian Korda (loss to Sonego) and Aleksandar Kovacevic (loss to Kecmanovic).
Andrey Rublev snapped a five-match losing streak with a 6-1, 6-4 win over British qualifier Jacob Fearnley.
Carlos Alcaraz will be in action on Tuesday against Cameron Norrie.
Check out the full Day 2 schedule below:
