Dimitrov beats Alcaraz in quarterfinals in Miami

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida, USA (AP) — Grigor Dimitrov defeated first-seeded Carlos Alcaraz 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semifinals at the Miami Open.

The Bulgarian (seeded 11th) achieved his first win in five years against a player ranked in the top five.

Alexander Zverev, (4th), who beat Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-5, will meet Dimitrov in the best-of-four round this Friday. The other semi-final pits Italian Jannik Sinner (second) against Daniil Medvedev (third), a repeat of last year’s title match, which the Russian won.

Dimitrov declined to evaluate the quality of his play against Alcaraz.

“I have to play again tomorrow. I try to stay focused. “This is our game, of course one appreciates these things and is happy with today’s win,” he said. “But you have to move on quickly and start focusing on the next game.”

Alcaraz, champion of the event in 2022, came into this edition after defeating Medvedev in Indian Wells. But the second-ranked Spaniard struggled to find his game against Dimitrov and looked frustrated at times during the first set.

But even after going down a break and 4-2 in the second set, he did not give up. He broke Dimitrov’s serve and kept the serve intact to level the set at 4-4.

However, the Bulgarians won the last two games, gaining a break in the decider.

“It was almost perfect,” the 20-year-old Alcaraz said of his opponent. “I feel very disappointed now, because he made me feel like I was 13 years old. it was crazy. I talked to my team and told them I didn’t know what to do. “I don’t know his weaknesses or anything.”

Dimitrov had not defeated a player ranked in the world top five since the quarterfinals of the 2019 United States Open, when he defeated third-ranked Roger Federer.

In the women’s category, Elena Rybakina (4th) again had to play three sets before defeating Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(2) in the semi-finals.

Rybakina, ranked fourth in the WTA rankings, will face local Danielle Collins in the final on Saturday, who defeated Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (14th) 6-3, 6-2. The Kazakh player had also reached the final last year, where she lost to Petra Kvitova in straight sets.

“This year is very different,” Rybakina said. “To be honest, I did not expect to reach the final because I was not so well prepared for this tournament. But I am happy to fight in all these matches and reach the final again.

A day of rest will be welcome for Rybakina, who had to play three sets in all but one of her matches at this tournament. Thursday’s duel lasted for 2 hours 33 minutes.

24-year-old Rybakina is looking for her third title this year. She leads 4–0 against Azarenka in her career, including two wins this year.

Azarenka, 34, was trying to become the oldest monarch in the competition. She was already the second-oldest semi-finalist – Venus Williams reached that stage in 2017, when she was 36.