Carlos Alcaraz’s streak of nine consecutive victories came to an end this Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open, in which the Murcian crashed against a monumental Grigor Dimitrov (6-2 and 6-4). Alcaraz, number two in the world ranking and recent Indian Wells champion, could not against the solid and powerful tennis of Dimitrov (no. 12) who will play this Friday in the semifinals against the German Alexander Zverev.
The Murcian had won three of the previous four with Dimitrov, this year’s champion in Brisbane, but he gave up after one hour and 32 minutes of play and closed his American tour in the quarterfinals after winning his fifth 1,000th title two weeks ago in the Californian desert of Indian Wells.
Alcaraz and Dimitrov put on a show on Miami’s center court, attended by past and present sports stars such as former boxer Mike Tyson, Spanish soccer player Sergio Busquets and basketball player Jimmy Butler.
He came from a hard-fought qualification achieved in the third set tiebreaker against the Polish Hubert Hurkacz, but the day of rest helped Dimitrov regain energy and his way of approaching the match was unbeatable. Solid, focused, deep with his forehand and backhand and forceful with the serve, Dimitrov achieved a break at 30 in the second game and got out of trouble by canceling four break balls from Alcaraz to take a quick 3-0 lead.
The Murcian tried to subtract by placing himself far off the court to better manage the Bulgarian’s power and tried to force with his serve. He hit a winning serve at 210 kilometers per hour, but Dimitrov dominated him with authority from the first point, putting him in considerable trouble. The anticipated backhand response in the first point to the Murcian serve was the clearest warning. Even in the fourth game, with Alcaraz ahead 40-0, Dimitrov took him to 40-all before the Murcian could take the game. It was not enough and the Bulgarian sealed the set with a powerful backhand to make it 6-2 in 49 minutes.
I already knew what it was like to get out of very complicated moments in Alcaraz. He did it in Indian Wells after losing the first set of the semifinal 6-1 against the Italian Jannik Sinner and also in the final with the Russian Daniil Medvedev, when he came back from 0-3 in the first set to open his way to the title . But Dimitrov did not stop stepping on the accelerator. If possible, he increased the level of his punches and signed an impressive through forehand that gave him the break for 3-1.
Alcaraz couldn’t find a way to respond. During a pause he sought the help of his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero and asked him, with frustration, where he had to place himself in his opinion to subtract. With his back against the wall, the Murcian responded with rage, took advantage of Dimitrov’s first moment of slight decline, and took ten of eleven points to achieve the first break of his match and put the second set back on balance in the 4th. -4.
It was an apparent change of inertia that was never completed, because Dimitrov held serve for 5-4 and won two match points with Alcaraz on serve. The first one was enough for him and secured his place in the semi-finals. The other semifinal will be played by the Italian Jannik Sinner and the Russian Daniil Medvedev, in the reissue of the 2023 final, won by the second.