Dimitrov eliminates Alcaraz in the quarterfinals in Miami

Miami Gardens, Florida, USA (AP) – Miami Open top seed Grigor Dimitrov stunned Carlos Alcaraz with a 6-2, 6-4 win and advance to the semifinals.

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

Alexander Zverev (fourth), who defeated Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-5, will meet Dimitrov on Friday in the first four. Italian Jannik Sinner (second) will face Daniil Medvedev (third) in the other semi-final, which is a repeat of last year's title match, which the Russian won.

Dimitrov refused to evaluate the quality of his match against Alcaraz.

“I have to play again tomorrow. I'm trying to stay focused. This is our sport, one appreciates these things of course, and is happy with today's victory,” he said. “But you have to move quickly and start focusing on the next match.”

Alcaraz, the champion of this competition in 2022, came to this edition after his victory over Medvedev in Indian Wells. But the second-seeded Spaniard had difficulty finding his match against Dimitrov and looked frustrated on several occasions during the first set.

But he did not give up even after falling behind on his opponent's serve and leading 4-2 in the second set. He broke Dimitrov's serve, leaving him at love, and held serve to tie the set at 4-4.

However, the Bulgarian won the last two games, earning a break in the decider.

“It was almost perfect,” Alcaraz, 20, said of his opponent. “I'm feeling a lot of frustration now, because he made me feel like I was 13. It was crazy. I spoke to my team and told them I didn't know what to do. “I don't know his weaknesses or anything.”

Dimitrov has not beaten any player among the top five in the world since the quarterfinals of the 2019 US Open, when he beat Roger Federer, who was then ranked third.

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

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

“This year is completely different,” Rybakina said. “Honestly, I did not expect to be in the final because I was not well prepared for this tournament. But I am happy that I fought in all these matches and to be in the final again.”

It will be a welcome day of rest for Rybakina, who has had to play three sets in all but one of her matches this tournament. Thursday's duel lasted two hours and 33 minutes.

Rybakina, 24, is seeking her third title this year. She is 4-0 in her career against Azarenka, including two wins this year.

Azarenka (34 years old) was trying to be the oldest king in this competition. She was already the second-oldest player to reach the semi-finals, with Venus Williams reaching that stage in 2017, when she was 36 years old.