ATP Finals hopeful Grigor Dimitrov escapes Etcheverry in Paris; Popyrin tops Medvedev

Last year’s Paris Masters runner-up Grigor Dimitrov secured a late break to win on his return to the French capital—and keep his Nitto ATP Finals chances alive.

Taking on Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the No. 8 seed battled to a 6-7 (9), 6-3, 7-5 victory. Neither player faced a break point in the deciding set until the final point of the clash, when Dimitrov converted to cross the finish line after two hours and 44 minutes.

At a minimum, Dimitrov needs to reach the semifinals to remain in the hunt for the season finale in Turin, and repeat his 2023 showing at Bercy Arena to surpass the current No. 8 positioned player, Andrey Rublev. The Russian, along with No. 7 Casper Ruud, fell Tuesday in his opener. Rublev accepted a wild card Wednesday into next week's ATP 250 at Metz, where Ruud had previously entered.

The 33-year-old gets wild card Arthur Rinderknech Thursday for a quarterfinal place. The Frenchman overcame Alex Michelsen, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7), erasing two set points to avoid a decider.

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World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev won’t be full on confidence when he heads back to the Nitto ATP Finals. Alexei Popyrin took down the 2020 Paris champion, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4).

Medvedev double-faulted, before the Australian served out the encounter to notch his first victory in four attempts with the former No. 1. Popyrin owns six Top 10 wins this season, more than double what he had posted across his career prior to 2024.

As for Medvedev, he’ll arrive at the eight-man field in Turin without a title to show for this year. The 28-year-old was a finalist at the Australian Open and Indian Wells.