Alejandro Davidovich celebrates a point against Grigor Dimitrov. /
Masters 1.000
The Spaniard beats Dimitrov and will play his first match for a Masters 1,000 title this Sunday
Alejandro Davidovich’s dream in Monte Carlo has no end. The Spaniard gave himself another day this Saturday to continue enjoying himself, to pursue the first Masters 1,000 of his life. The talisman that is Montecarlo does not fail. Where Davidovich got his first quarterfinals and in this edition his first semifinals, he will now also play his first final. The player from Malaga, who lives in a cloud this week, beat Grigor Dimitrov, 6-4, 6-7 (2) and 6-3, and will play this Sunday the first final of his sports career. In a circle, he forming a pineapple, cheering and shouting. Yes, Davidovich finished with his team when Dimitrov’s last ball went wide.
Another triumph suffered, fought and worked was completed. The signs of identity of the player from Malaga in the Principality, where he has uncovered the best of his tennis over the last seven days. On the stage in which Rafa Nadal has triumphed eleven times and where the emergence of Carlos Alcaraz on clay was expected, it was Davidovich who appeared to the surprise of all tennis.
He took ahead a world number one like Novak Djokovic, a recent champion in Marrakech like David Goffin, the winner of Indian Wells, Taylor Fritz, and now Grigor Dimitrov, who at 30 years old is still living weeks of glory in The circuit. The Bulgarian, with much more experience, but on his least favorite surface, gave in against a Davidovich imbued by the magic of some idyllic days for his tennis.
The multiple injuries he sustained against Djokovic, from throwing himself over and over again towards impossible balls, earning the public’s affection along the way, have healed. Or at least they don’t hurt as much anymore. His tennis has flourished on one of the most beautiful courts in the world and he is the one who takes the initiative. Davidovich was the first to break his rival’s serve, the first to score a set and the one who best knew how to recover from the loss of the second. A perfect ‘tie break’ by Dimitrov anticipated a third set in which the Bulgarian had the emotional factor in favor.
He showed it by taking the first two games of the final partial. Dropshots and a sliced backhand worked for him, forcing Davidovich to crouch down and pick up awkward balls. They dominated the changes of pace of the ‘Baby Federer’, not so ‘baby’ for a long time. But if Sofia’s player has been characterized by something throughout his career, it is by irregularity.
Five Spanish champions
Davidovich, who did not stop looking at his bench, seeking reassurance from his coach, Jorge Aguirre, saved four break points that would have placed him 0-3, a deadly disadvantage. He deactivated them and began the escalation: 1-2, 2-2, 3-2 and 4-2. Look at your bench. This was almost done. The game of 5-2, raising a 15-30 sentenced him. Dimitrov got desperate, threw wild shots and went to the locker room when Davidovich made the final 6-2. Davidovich chanted one more victory, the one that put him in the first final of his life, in a spectacular setting, that of a Masters 1,000. The three previous semi-finals he had lost.
The man from Malaga joins the illustrious list of Spanish finalists in Monte Carlo, where Nadal is already present, who achieved it twelve times; Sergi Bruguera, who played three; Manuel Orantes, Carlos Moyá and Juan Carlos Ferrero, who signed two; and Albert Costa, Álex Corretja, David Ferrer, Albert Ramos and Fernando Verdasco, who played the final once in the Principality. The next step, against the winner of the semi-final between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev, will be to become the sixth Spaniard to lift the title, after Orantes (1975), Bruguera (1991 and 1993), Moyá (1998), Ferrero (2002 and 2003) and Nadal (2005-2012 and 2016-2018).
