Dimitrov stuns Alcaraz to close Zverev Miami semi-final

MIAMI:

World number two Carlos Alcaraz crashed out of the Miami Open quarter-finals on Thursday, beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.

Dimitrov played sparkling and energetic tennis to beat the Spanish top seed and will now face Germany’s Alexander Zverev for a place in the final.

Germany’s Zverev held off rising Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-5 to book his place in the semi-finals.

Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev will play in the other semifinal — a rematch of the Australian Open final that Sinner won in January.

Alcaraz entered Miami on the back of his Indian Wells title and with his sights set on the “Sunshine Double.”

But from the start, Dimitrov, who also beat Alcaraz in the fourth round in Shanghai, showed no fear as he attacked Alcaraz and broke early to take a 3-0 lead.

The Bulgarian pounced on every opportunity, often coming to the net and moving Alcaraz around the court.

He looked to be on his way to a comfortable two-set victory after breaking the Spaniard in the fourth game and then holding a 4-1 lead.

But Alcaraz was not to be downed, making it 4-3 after smashing a groundout winner at the end of an entertaining rally.

With the match back on serve, a tiebreak seemed inevitable. But with Alcaraz serving to stay in the match, Dimitrov broke him when the Spaniard went forehand and Dimitrov’s hands went high in the air in celebration.

“To beat him, you have to play your best. That’s the way it is,” Dimitrov said.

“I went into the match very focused and thinking extremely clearly about what I had to do. Sometimes simplicity is genius. It’s very, very difficult to do that, especially when you’re playing against an opponent like this. But I managed to really dictate the game,

“Honestly, it was a very, very great match on my end. And I’m happy to finish the sets for once,” he joked.

Alcaraz admitted he simply had no answer to Dimitrov’s outstanding performance.

“I have a lot of frustrations right now because it made me feel like I was 13. You know, it was crazy,” Alcaraz said.

“I was talking to my team saying I don’t know what to do. I don’t know, you know, his weakness. I don’t know anything. That’s why I’m frustrated right now.”

Alcaraz said he thought he played better than his loss to the Bulgarian in Shanghai in October.

“In China I made more mistakes, first ball, second ball, than today. I think he played even better today. He played great. I couldn’t find solutions in today’s match. His game was perfect,” he said.

World number five Zverev knew he had to be wary of Marozsan, who is ranked 57th, but he is heading into the top 40 having notched two top-10 wins at this tournament, beating Holger Rune and Alex de Minaur.

But the Hungarian struggled to cope with Zverev’s big serve in the opening set and could not find his rhythm.

There was little to choose between the pair in the second set, with the Hungarian keeping the pressure on Zverev.

But Marozsan lost some crucial points late in the set when he went to the net and was eventually broken on his final serve.

Zverev was happy to have the opportunity to return to the final.

“I mean, I love Miami, I’ve always said that, obviously I’m happy to be back in these late stages of these tournaments, playing the best players in the world. I think they’re the only ones left and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” he said.

The German was full of praise for his opponent, predicting he will continue to climb higher in the rankings.

“If he keeps playing like this, he’ll come up the ranks very quickly and be one of those guys himself,” he said.

“He always rushes us good players. All the top players, when they’re in control, they feel they can manage the match, manipulate the match a little bit to their advantage and against him that’s not possible.

“Well, I think that’s why he has such a great top-10 record. He’s an incredible player.”