Top seed Roger Federer takes on second seed Grigor Dimitrov in the final of the season's first ATP 500 event at Rotterdam (ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament) on Sunday, February 18.
Federer has had a solid start to the new season. The 36-year-old successfully defended his Australian Open title last month and has now dethroned arch-rival Rafael Nadal from the top spot of ATP Rankings.
He outclassed Robin Haase in the quarter-final of the ongoing tournament on Friday to become the numero uno of men's singles tennis after five years.
Federer eyes third Rotterdam title
The two-time champion (2005 and 2012), who is featuring in the hard-court tournament in Rotterdam for the first time since 2015, outclassed lower-ranked Andreas Seppi in straight sets to book his spot in the final.
Federer heads into the match as a favorite as he has stitched an 11-match unbeaten run on the ongoing season. Notably, Dimitrov has never managed to beat the former in their six career meetings so far.
On the other hand, Dimitrov progressed to the final after his semi-final opponent David Goffin retired due to an on-court eye injury. The Bulgarian was leading 6-3, 0-1 before Goffin was forced to end his Rotterdam Open run.
Dimitrov, who ended 2017 on a high after winning the ATP Tour Finals title, will be looking to put behind the disappointment of a quarter-final exit at Australian Open with his maiden win over the ageless Swiss legend.
"My goal will be to win and at the same time, raise the bar even higher. In order for me to do that, I just need to play on the court the same way I have been practicing. I will be focusing on myself, as I have said throughout the week," Dimitrov said, as quoted by ATP's official website.
Dimitrov has not dropped a set en route to the final of the ongoing tournament. Nonetheless, the 26-year-old needs to be at his best to even trouble Federer, who is looking unstoppable at the moment.
When is the match and how to watch it live
The singles final of ATP Rotterdam 500 tournament will not be played before 3:30pm local time, 8pm IST and 2:30pm GMT.
