Goffin shocks Federer in semifinal match of ATP Finals

David Goffin of Belgium rallied from a set down to beat Roger Federer of Switzerland for the first time and claim an impressive 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory on Saturday in the semifinals of the ATP Finals in London.

The 26-year-old Goffin will meet Grigor Dimitrov in the final on Sunday after the Bulgarian defeated Jack Sock, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, in the other semifinal match.

“I have no words. I cannot describe how I’m feeling,” an emotional Goffin said in his on-court interview after stunning the second-seeded Federer. “So much joy, so much happiness. I’m so happy to play the match I played, it was such a special moment.”

Goffin, a first-time qualifier in the event, was asked what he changed in order to claim his first-ever win over the 36-year-old Federer, who has 19 Grand Slam titles.

“Honestly I don’t know. It was just the feeling,” Goffin said. “I was a bit nervous at the beginning, but I did some great serves, I was really aggressive so yeah, that was my day.”

A disappointed Federer said Goffin was the better player on this day.

“It’s a bit disappointing for me because it’s indoors, it’s a court I like to play on,” Federer said. “But I had my chances and missed them. When he had them, he was very committed. I think that was the difference today.”

The seventh-seeded Goffin hinted he might have a preference as to his opponent on the final day of the 2017 season. He faced Dimitrov in Group Pete Sampras play earlier in the week, falling 6-0, 6-2.

“If you watched some matches this week, you know the answer,” Goffin said, smiling.

However, Dimitrov indeed will be the opponent. Goffin is 1-3 against Dimitrov, who has won all four of his matches this week and is playing perhaps the best tennis of his career.

The Bulgarian remains wary of Goffin, however.

“I think his confidence is going to be up there,” Dimitrov said. “But I’m not going to focus in on his confidence or his game right now. I’m just focusing on myself, the recovery that I’m going to do today. Of course, it’s not going to be the same after I played against him… I think also it’s a different stage for both of us.”

When the new rankings are released Monday, Dimitrov will be up to No. 3.

“The goal was to finish the year Top 10. Now I finished 3,” Dimitrov said. “It’s wonderful, a wonderful reward. This is what I’ve been working for.”

Dimitrov had won only one of his previous four matches against Sock and he dropped the first set on Saturday.

But he bounced back to dominate the second set, and eventually closed it out on his fourth match-point opportunity.

“Sometimes not only you have to fight yourself mentally, but you need to fight the demons from previous matches or your opponent,” Dimitrov said. “But I was very happy the way I handled the pressure.”