ATP Finals: Dimitrov confident, Goffin makes history

Grigor Dimitrov also won his third group game at the ATP Final in London. The Bulgarian had already been confirmed as a semi-finalist before his sovereign two-match win over Pablo Carreno Busta.

Previously, David Goffin had made history with a special victory over a good friend: The world ranked yacht was the first Belgian ever to reach the semi-finals of the ATP final in London by beating Dominic Thiem (Austria/No. 4)6:4,6:1 in a duel with Dominic Thiem (Austria/No. 4).

“It’s always hard to play against a friend. I decided to stay focused. But in the end I was really nervous,”said Goffin after his second win in the decisive third round match.

After 1:12 hours, the Australian Open quarter-finalist transformed his second match point. Second in the Pete Sampras Group, the 26-year-old Goffin will meet Roger Federer (No. 2), the unbeaten winner of the Boris-Becker Group, on Saturday.

“I have nothing against him to lose. It’s gonna be hard, sure. But I’m going to try to enjoy the great atmosphere in the hall and increase my level further,”said Goffin, who has lost all six comparisons with Federer.

The Swiss Grand Slam record champion had already won the title six times at the season-end tournament, most recently in 2011.

In the other semi-finals of the eight million dollar hall event, Grigor Dimitrov (No. 6) and Jack Sock (No. 8) will also face each other on Saturday. The American had won the decisive preliminary round match against Alexander Zverev (Hamburg/No. 3) on Thursday evening with 6:4,1:6,6:4.

Dimitrov maintained his form-strong form on Friday evening with a 6-1,6-1 defeat of the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who stepped in for his injured compatriot Rafael Nadal (No. 1) after the first matchday.

Goffin had to pause for about two months this year because of an ankle injury. La Goff “, son of a tennis coach from Liège, missed the Wimbledon tournament, among other things.

Against Thiem, the Belgian won five games in a row after a quick 3-0 defeat, and shortly afterwards took the first set with a spectacular passing shot.

The two-time French Open semi-finalist Thiem had problems with his left knee and was treated afterwards. But Goffin, who is also playing in the Davis Cup final against hosts France (24. till 26. November), kept a cool head in front of around 12,000 spectators in the o2-arena.

In his opening match, Goffin had drawn down industry leader Nadal in three sets and then talked about his “greatest victory”. The Spaniard had announced his retirement from the tournament after the match because of a knee injury and had declared his season had ended prematurely.