Dimitrov is champion again after five years. Who also shone on the ATP circuit?

The opening week brought the world ATP tournaments in Brisbane and Hong Kong. However, interesting things happened at the United Cup as well. Grigor Dimitrov won the title after a long break. Which other tennis players should definitely not escape attention?

Grigor Dimitrov

Dimitrov experienced the most challenging moments in his run at the Brisbane tournament in the very first round. In the matches of the local former champions against Andy Murray, the Bulgarian tennis player had to turn the match from 0: 1 to sets, but he managed to do it. In the following matches, the hard surface lover did not lose a set.

In the final against Dan Rune, Dimitrov managed a first set tiebreak, which proved to be decisive. In the second set, he put his opponent under a lot of pressure early on, when more than twenty balls were fought over the Dane’s serve.

The young Dane still resisted, but a few minutes later he had already lost his serve. The Bulgarian tennis player thus steered the match towards his victory. And it was a proper triumph, the thirty-two-year-old enjoyed it for the first time since 2017.

With this exchange, he ended his successful journey. Right in Brisbane he rejoiced again after six years.

You don’t have to win the title right away

It is possible to put in a great performance and still not win an ATP tournament. China’s Shang showed perfect form in Hong Kong. The Beijing native unexpectedly made it all the way to the semi-finals and earned himself a wildcard into the Australian Open.

In Hong Kong, Finn Ruusuvuori made his presence felt for the first time in a while. The Helsinki native’s top performance last year was a semifinal appearance in Hertogenbosch, and he surpassed that in his first tournament this year. He finished in the final match against Rublyov. He incidentally also stood at the end of the Shango pilgrimage.

In the United Cup, the performances of Alex De Minaur were definitely impressive. He took on the American Fritz and the German Zverev, but the biggest bombshell came in the match against Novak Djokovic.

The Australian thus ended the incredible streak of the Serbian tennis player, who had won an incredible 43 matches in a row on Australian soil before this duel. De Minaur thus showed great form, which is excellent news a week before the start of his home Grand Slam.

Source: ATP, X, The Guardian