Top seed and three-time defending BNP Paribas Masters champion Novak Djokovic fought through a tricky opponent on Thursday in Paris, rallying from a set down and defeat No. 14 seed Grigor Dimitrov in their third-round clash, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Djokovic extends his win streak in Bercy to 17 consecutive matches. He will maintain his World No. 1 ranking over Andy Murray should he win two more matches and reach the final in Paris.
“I'm very grateful to have such a crowd and perform in front of them. I think they appreciated the battle between Grigor and I today,” said Djokovic. “I think we both gave what we could. I think it was a really, really nice match to be a part of.”
Next up for Djokovic is ninth seed Marin Cilic, who clinched his spot in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals earlier in the day with a win over ninth seed David Goffin. The Serbian has dominated his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Cilic 14-0 and has won the past 12 sets they’ve played.
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“He loves these kinds of very quick courts. He won Cincinnati in very similar, even faster conditions,” said Djokovic. “I know what I need to do, and hopefully I'll be able to execute it well tomorrow.”
Both players traded early service holds, but Dimitrov broke Djokovic twice in a row to lead 3-2 and maintained his slight advantage to grab the opening set. Djokovic rebounded by racing to a 3-1 lead, but suffered a right knee injury after slipping while chasing down a forehand. He stopped play to take a medical timeout, but quickly picked up where he left off and broke Dimitrov once more to force a deciding set.
The third set was one-way traffic for Djokovic. He immediately broke Dimitrov and raced out to a 3-0 lead, controlling the majority of the baseline rallies and putting his opponent under constant pressure. The World No. 1 closed out the match on his first try to move into the quarter-finals.
