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Grigor Dimitrov has made a surprising decision to join the doubles tournament in Acapulco. The Bulgarian will play at the Mexican resort for the first time after the Australian Open. Grisho’s goal is to gain game practice.
His partner will be the American Tommy Paul, with whom Dimitrov has not played in pairs until now. The two know each other well from their individual matches last year. At the Australian Open, the 23-year-old American won a dramatic 5-set victory, but Grigor successfully retaliated in three parts of the US Open. The two are bottom-ranked in the main draw, with some very strong pairs like Marcel Granoyers / Horacio Sebayos, Jamie Murray / Bruno Soares, Pierre-Yug Erber / Nicolas Mayu and Rajiv Ram / Joe Salisbury.
Among the most prominent individual players in the doubles competition are also Diego Schwartzman, Felix Auger-Aliasim, Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic and Benoit Perr. Last year, Dimitrov returned to play in pairs in Acapulco, then in tandem with another of the young Americans in the person of Taylor Fritz. In the first round, they defeated Marcus Daniel and Philippe Oswald, but then lost to Lukasz Cubot and Marcelo Melo.
Acapulco has fond memories of the Bulgarian, who on his debut in 2014 achieved his first ATP 500 title by defeating Kevin Anderson in the final. Last year, he had three wins – over Damir Dzumhur, Adrian Manarino and Stan Wawrinka before losing to Rafa Nadal in the semi-finals.
This year’s tournament starts on March 15 and Dimitrov will be the fifth in the scheme. It will be managed by Stefanos Tsitsipas, and the others ranked above the Bulgarian are Alexander Zverev, Diego Schwartzman and Milos Raonic./TennisCafe
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