Like he never left…
Grigor Dimitrov left Wimbledon in tears, having been forced out by a pectoral tear while leading eventual champion Jannik Sinner two sets to love.
Just over three months later the 34-year-old is back and showing fine form. He battled past Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-6(5), 6-1 to book a second-round clash with either Jaume Munar or Daniil Medvedev.
It was stellar stuff from start to finish for the former Paris finalist.
“It never happened to me, so I think I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole time away from the court,” Dimitrov said after his win at the La Defense Arena. “It was never easy. I knew that coming to competition is just going to be a difficult task. I just wanted to come out and test myself, give myself a chance.
“It was a good night. I’m taking it in and just going one day at a time at the moment.”
Dimitrov hit 26 winners and broke serve three times against one of the most lethal servers in a game. He struck 16 forehand winners and won 16 of 21 points at the net to improve to 18-11 on the season and 25-12 lifetime in Paris.
Dimitrov is one of four players, along with Novak Djokovic, Boris Becker and Tomas Berdych to have won 25 matches at the Paris Masters.
In other action 2018 champion Karen Khachanov rolled past Ethan Quinn 6-1, 6-1 in 60 minutes to close out the night session.
American Learner Tien got his first Paris win, in straight sets over Nuno Borges, while Brandon Nakashima (loss to Muller), Sebastian Korda (loss to Sonego) and Aleksandar Kovacevic (loss to Kecmanovic) fell.
Andrey Rublev snapped a five-match losing streak with a 6-1, 6-4 win over British qualifier Jacob Fearnley.
Carlos Alcaraz will be in action on Tuesday, against Cameron Norrie.
See the full Day 2 order of play below: