Dimitrov and Sabatini Shine at MSG at BNP Paribas Showdown

It had been 25 years since Monica Seles beat Gabriela Sabatini in a five-set match to cap off a successful season at Madison Square Garden. On Tuesday night, Sabatini was finally able to exact her revenge, beating Seles 8-5 in 37 minutes in front of 14,894 at Madison Square Garden in the BNP Paribas Showdown on World Tennis Day.

As much as it was an exhibition between two former stars of the sport who have not spent much time on court since their retirement, the pro-set still brought forth competition.

When Sabatini got up two breaks, as the crowd still filtered in ahead of Roger Federer’s match against Grigor Dimitrov, Seles showed that she was not quite ready to end her time in the spotlight.

Conjuring her inner Maria Sharapova, Seles grunted her way to within a break, fighting to stay alive. As Sabatini served for the match, however, a dumped slice into the net from Seles ended it, giving Sabatini the satisfaction of beating her rival 25 years later, albeit a far shorter, relaxed matchup.

This time in 37 minutes, instead of the marathon of 1990, Sabatini earned her first victory over Seles at Madison Square Garden.

Seles defeated her opponent in all three previous matches between the two at Madison Square Garden—the first of the trio being the marathon, while the latter two ended in straight sets.

“I think we were a little bit nervous early in the beginning, there was some tension, but we expected that to happen,” Sabatini said. “I think we played some nice tennis and stepping out on this court again was just amazing.”

Grigor Dimitrov beat his own bugaboo as well, as the youngster defeated 17-time Grand Slam Champion Roger Federer for the first time in four attempts, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5.

Although it was an exhibition, Dimitrov had fallen to the Swiss star in each of their three previous tour matches.

He got off to a quick start in front of raucous fans at the “World’s Most Famous Arena,” wasting no time in showing why many have compared the Bulgarian to a younger version of Federer. A couple of early breaks were enough to propel Dimitrov to a quick first set.

Federer was not quite ready to let the 23-year-old blow him out of the arena, where he has played in the BNP Paribas Showdown twice before, once against Pete Sampras and another against Andy Roddick.

If the first set was quick, the second went by as lightning speed, as Federer showed deft touch and shot making that sent the crowd into a state of awe, drawing constant applause.

Nobody was quiet when both players hit a tweener in the same point, as a touch lob over Dimitrov’s head sent the Bulgarian sprinting back to the baseline, where he hit a between-the-legs lob of his own over Federer, who tracked it down to hit his own trick shot, forcing an error.

After the first couple of sets, the tennis only got better, as the two top-10 players went back and forth, shot for shot. It looked as if Federer would take control as he broke for 3-2 in the decider, but Dimitrov fought back and closed out strongly for the win.

“I’m so thrilled. It was an amazing experience for me to be out there and to play against Roger,” Dimitrov said. “I’ve learned a lot in the past days, and now it’s onwards, and the next stop is Indian Wells.”

For Federer, the loss did not take away from the experience of the evening. “I had a great time. It’s always very special to play at the Garden,” he said. “This is very unique and I really enjoyed the experience.”

Both Federer and Dimitrov now head to California for Indian Wells, an ATP Masters 1000 event, where they could eventually face one another in the semifinals, with Stan Wawrinka in Federer’s quarter, and Rafael Nadal in Dimitrov’s.