Surprise in Miami! Carlos Alcaraz, eliminated by Dimitrov after about 45 minutes

Surprise in Miami! Carlos Alcaraz, eliminated by Dimitrov after about 45 minutes

Carlos Alcaraz’s hopes of a Sunshine double were dashed in spectacular fashion as the top-favourite Spaniard fell 6-2, 6-4 to Grigor Dimitrov, who will face Alexander Zverev in the Miami semi-finals Open.

It was a crushing defeat for Alcaraz, who arrived in Miami full of confidence after winning the Indian Wells title 11 days ago. He was three wins away from becoming the first player to achieve the Sunshine double since Roger Federer (2017).

“I’m very excited”

“Generally, to win against him, you have to play at your best. That’s the way it is.” said Dimitrov after his second win over world number two Alcaraz.

“I went into the match focused and I think it was extremely clear what I had to do. Sometimes simplicity is brilliant. It’s very difficult to do it, especially when you play against an opponent like him, but I managed to dictate the game, to I’m reading the game a little bit better than last time. It was a very close match and I’m glad to finish in two sets.” Dimitrov also said.

Dimitrov’s next opponent will be German Zverev, the fourth favorite, who defeated Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-5.

“I have limited time to celebrate, to prepare. Right now, the most important thing is to prepare for the game.” Dimitrov added. “I’m very grateful to have made it this far in a Masters tournament and I’m very excited for what’s to come.”

“It was crazy”

On the other hand, Alacaraz said that Dimitrov played “almost perfectly”.

“I have a lot of frustrations right now because it made me feel like a 13-year-old,” said Alcaraz, 20. “It was crazy. I was talking to my team saying I don’t know what to do. I don’t know his weakness. I don’t know anything.”

This was Dimitrov’s first win over a top-five player since defeating then-No. 3 Roger Federer in the quarterfinals of the 2019 US Open.