Dimitar Kisimov will play against Thilo Bermann (Austria) in his first meeting at the Masters tournament of the best eight tennis players under 18 in the world. The competition starts on Wednesday in Chengdu, China. This is the only tournament in junior tennis with a prize fund.
The eight participants were divided into two groups of four players, with the first two in each group qualifying for the semifinals. In addition to Tilo Bermann, Kisimov's rivals in the group will also be Keaton Hens (USA) and Vincent Reisach (Germany).
The curious thing is that the Bulgarian is accommodated in the same room as his first opponent Bermann. Unpleasant news for Kisimov is that he arrived in Chengdu without his luggage, which was lost during the transfer to Istanbul last Friday.
Dimitar Kisimov continues to establish himself as one of the most promising names in Bulgarian tennis. In 2026, the 18-year-old Bulgarian recorded a number of strong results in both junior and men's tennis.
His biggest success at the beginning of the season came at the Australian Open, where Kisimov and his partner Connor Doig (Republic of South Africa) won the junior doubles title.
In singles, Kisimov also achieved serious success. In March, he won the J300 tournament title in Cairo, then finished third at the strong junior tournament in Plovdiv, and later became the runner-up at the J500 in Offenbach (Germany).
At “Wimbledon” Kisimov reached the quarterfinals of the junior singles. A particularly important step in his development came in August, when the Bulgarian won his first men's singles title on the World Tennis Tour in Kuršumlijska Banja (Serbia).
His strong performance continued at the US Junior Open, where Kisimov reached the third round.
Dimitar Kisimov is the fourth Bulgarian to participate in the finals of the eight best juniors this year. Adrian Andreev and Iliyan Radulov finished in third place in 2018 and 2023 respectively, while Alexander Vassilev took eighth place last year.