2024 ATP Tour Kicks Off with Victory for Grigor Dimitrov at Brisbane International
The Bulgarian won his first trophy in over six years.
Grigor Dimitrov, 32, of Bulgaria defeated Holger Rune, 20, of Denmark to claim the Men’s Singles title at the 2024 Brisbane International in Brisbane, Australia (an ATP 250 event). The score in the final was 7-6 (7-5 tiebreaker) and 6-4 in favor of Dimitrov.
This was the third match Dimitrov and Rune have played against each other on the ATP Tour - with both players winning one of their prior meetings. Today’s victory is the first title Dimitrov has won on the 2024 ATP Tour and the ninth title of his career in single’s competition. Notably, this is the first title he has won since prevailing at the ATP Finals in November 2017!
Heading into this tournament, Rune was ranked as the Number 8 tennis player on the 2024 ATP Tour, while Dimitrov carried the Number 14 designation. By winning in Brisbane, Dimitrov has received 250 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Rune has picked up 150 points.
Kei Nishikori of Japan (No. 352) was the tournament’s reigning champion when the event was last held in January 2019. He did not compete at the event this year.
Dimitrov arrived in the final after winning against Andy Murray of the United Kingdom (No. 42), Daniel Altmaier of Germany (No. 56), Rinky Hijikata of Australia (No. 71), and Jordan Thompson of Australia (No. 55).
In the other half of the main draw, Rune defeated Max Purcell of Australia (No. 45), Alexander Shevchenko of Russia (No. 48), James Duckworth of Australia (No. 116), and Roman Safiullin of Russia (No. 39).
The revised rankings for the 2024 ATP Tour will be officially released on Monday, January 8. The tour will then play two tournaments from January 8 to 13: the Adelaide International in Adelaide, Australia (an ATP 250 event) and the Auckland Open in Auckland, New Zealand (an ATP 250 event). Both tournaments will be played on hard courts.
Kwon Soon-woo of South Korea (No. 196) is the reigning champion at the Adelaide International. However, he is not competing at any event this week. Meanwhile, Richard Gasquet of France (No. 76) is the reigning champion at the Auckland Open. He has received a wild card entry into this year’s tournament.