Grigor Dimitrov battles past Karen Khachanov in grueling semifinal to reach Marseille final

Grigor Dimitrov is into the final in Marseille after battling past Karen Khachanov in a grueling three-set semifinal, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (5).

And with that victory, Dimitrov keeps some hot streaks going:

He’s now reached the final at three of the last four tournaments he’s played. He reached the final at his last tournament of 2023, the Masters 1000 event in Paris, and in three tournaments so far this year he’s won the title in Brisbane, reached the third round of the Australian Open and now he's through to another final in Marseille.

He’s now won 15 of the last 17 matches he’s played. His only two losses in the last few months came to Novak Djokovic (in the Paris final) and to Portugal’s Nuno Borges (at the Australian Open).

Dimitrov is also the first player to reach multiple ATP finals in 2024, following up his title run in Brisbane with this latest final in Marseille.

Dimitrov had won all three of his previous meetings against Khachanov, but their fourth encounter on Saturday was by far the closest, with Khachanov not only winning the first set, but—after Dimitrov took the second set—the Russian coming within two points of victory with the Bulgarian serving at 4-5, 15-30 in the third set.

After Dimitrov dug out of that hole and held, Khachanov came within three points of victory after building a 4-2 lead in the third set tie-break—but Dimitrov had one last blast left in him, winning five of the last six points to finally close it out after two hours and 57 minutes.

“I just kept on fighting, kept on staying in it—it’s really all I can do in moments like that,” Dimitrov said afterwards. “He kept putting a lot of pressure on me, hitting a lot of good shots, and I was constantly on the back foot. It was just a few points here and there, that’s all.

“I just kept on staying there and kept on believing.”

Dimitrov is now through to the 19th ATP final of his career, going 9-9 in his first 18. In his last final, in Brisbane last month, he defeated Holger Rune in straight sets to capture his first ATP title since 2017.

Awaiting him in the final in Marseille will be Frenchman Ugo Humbert, who took out Hubert Hurkacz in the first semifinal of the day, 6-4, 6-4.

Dimitrov has won both previous meetings against Humbert, though this will be their first time playing each other since 2020.