First round: Dimitrov is back!
After 14 weeks sidelined with injury, Grigor Dimitrov announced his return.
At the age of 34, a major injury could prove terminal. But not if you are Grigor Dimitrov. When he hobbled out of Wimbledon with a torn pectoral muscle (the fifth consecutive time he had to withdraw from a Grand Slam due to injury), his season looked over. But he is not the man to give in to anything. Yes, he could have waited until next year to test how his recovery had gone but, no, he wasn’t about to do that. He beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-6(5), 6-1 on court central and looked like he had never been away.
Dimitrov’s goal for the week had been to get through it without pain. When he set about big Giovanni, he looked like he wanted to win. Because that was what he was doing against Jannik Sinner when he injured that pectoral muscle at Wimbledon. On Monday, he moved like lightning; he served without a hint of a wince and he was simply the much better player. Which means has never been beaten in the first round of the Rolex Paris Masters: he is 13-0 in that department.
Karen cruises
Karen Khachanov is a former Rolex Paris Masters champion. He knows how to win indoors in Paris, no matter the venue. So when he sized up Ethan Quinn, the 21-year-old American qualifier, he had no doubts. Now, Khachanov is a perfectly nice man but put him on a tennis court against a lesser foe and he turns into a flat-track bully. And that is exactly what he was as he brushed aside Quinn 6-1, 6-1 in one hour.
Today at a glance
France had a good day as the two Arthurs – Cazaux and Rinderknech – beat, respectively, Luciano Darderi and Fabian Marozsan and Alexandre Muller ended a rough run of defeats to beat Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 7-5. Andrey Rublev ended his five-match losing run to beat Jacob Fearnley 6-1, 6-4 and Cam Norrie set up a meeting with Carlos Alcaraz by beating Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-4.