“It makes me feel like a thirteen-year-old boy,” admitted Carlos Alcaraz in the press conference after his defeat against the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (6-2 and 6-4). He had just been struck down by the now veteran tennis player, who played one of the best matches of the year, if not the best, to reach the semifinals of the Miami Masters 1,000. The statistics reflected it. According to the parameters available to the ATP, Dimitrov had a match of 9.44 out of 10, when his average on the circuit is 7.57.
«It has been crazy. I've been telling my team that I didn't know what to do. I didn't see any weakness in him, that's why I'm frustrated now, because I didn't know what to do. “I left the court happy with my tennis,” acknowledged Alcaraz, who falls one step earlier than last year and therefore misses 160 points in the fight with Novak Djokovic, absent in Miami, and Jannik Sinner, semi-finalist, for the number one.
Although Alcaraz dominated the first duels of the rivalry against Dimitrov, with victories in straight sets in his first three matches, two on clay and one on grass, the Bulgarian has turned around when they have seen each other on cement, with victories in Shanghai and now in Miami. Dimitrov, now 32 years old, is experiencing a second youth and this was his first quarterfinal in Florida.
He played them as if he had been installed in them all his life. Nerves played a role in the early games, but it was Dimitrov who benefited from the exchange of service errors. He took advantage of one of the four break balls that were generated, while Alcaraz lost the four he had. The initial push earned the Bulgarian, already far from the title of 'Baby Federer' due to the similarities in his style, to accelerate to a first set that closed 6-2 after a new break.
He had been impeccable, with twelve winners and only four unforced shots and Alcaraz was having a hard time serving without the Bulgarian taking over the court and subtracting, having to delay his position a lot due to the wind that was hitting the main court in Miami. The second set, far from improving this predisposition, only made it worse.
Dimitrov went 4-1 and with a break point in favor to inflict the worst defeat of the year on Alcaraz or at least the most resounding. His hand shook a little and not only did he not convert the ball for 5-1, but he let Alcaraz recover to 4-4 and had the opportunity to play the set and the match.
But the Murcian was not there. When he had to serve to stay in the match in the tenth game, he took a knee on the first point of the match and, as happened in Shanghai, was sent flying against an immense Dimitrov.
“Sometimes simplicity is best,” said the Bulgarian after the match. «It is very difficult to achieve it, especially against an opponent like this, but I was able to dictate the game and read the match better than the last time. Overall, I think I played great tennis and I'm very happy to have finished it in two sets.
In the semifinals he will face the German Alexander Zverev, who defeated Fabián Marozsan and will seek his second final in Miami after 2018. If Dimitrov wins, he will return to the top 10 for the first time since October 2018.
Alcaraz will return to Spain this week and will begin to think about the clay court tour where he will play in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros.
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