Rain & Defending Champ Dimitrov? No Problem For Djokovic

Rain nor defending champion Grigor Dimitrov were able to stop Novak Djokovic from continuing his pursuit of a first Western & Southern Open title.

The former World No. 1 returned to the court Friday with a break lead in the third set after rain halted play Thursday evening, maintaining that advantage to defeat the Bulgarian 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Djokovic continues his push for the one ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title he has not yet won, despite reaching the final five times in Cincinnati. He now owns 29 victories at the event, passing former World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt for the most at the tournament in the Open Era without lifting the trophy.

The Serbian has been victorious in 24 of his past 28 matches after a 6-6 start to the 2018 campaign. But for a moment on Thursday, it appeared that Djokovic would be leaving Cincinnati early, trailing Dimitrov by a set and a break, with little rhythm from the baseline. The Serbian did not let the reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion run away with the match, though, digging in and significantly cutting down his number of unforced errors, using his backhand down the line to great effect.

Dimitrov was trying to build off the momentum of a quarter-final showing at the Rogers Cup, and was also pursuing his third Top 10 victory of the season.