At Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday night, eleventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov stunned top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Miami Open.
Dimitrov was dazzling with an all-court performance. On his one-handed backhand, he came over the ball beautifully with exquisite timing. He crushed forehand winners. He mixed up his speeds and spins, volleyed and served spectacularly.
For the match, the Bulgarian hit 24 winners with four aces.
In his post-match press conference, Alcaraz said: “Well, I think he played amazing tennis, almost perfect, if I can say ‘perfect.’ I mean, I couldn’t find solutions. I couldn’t find a way to make him feel uncomfortable on the court. You know, it was a great game from his side.
“Well, I think I played good tennis. I mean, I left the court thinking that probably I had to change my game a little bit earlier, but anyway, I feel like I played a good tennis. Not perfect but a good one.
Photo Credit: Juarez Santos
“But I feel, let’s say, I have a lot of frustrations right now, because he made me feel like I’m 13 years old. You know, it was crazy. I was talking to my team saying that I don’t know what I have to do. I don’t know, you know, his weakness. I don’t know anything.
“That’s why I have frustration right now, but, you know, in the thought of tennis, I left the court happy with my level.”
In his post-match press conference, Dimitrov said that he was most proud of keeping up the level throughout the whole match. “I think it was very important for me to be clear and execute every opportunity I had. I think that was the most important thing for me.
“Yeah, just trying to do the best I can. It was a very, very good night for me.
“I mean, I feel good. I’m not rating anything yet since I have to play again tomorrow. I’m trying to stay on point. This is how our sport is. You appreciate it, of course. You’re very happy with the current win. Then you have to quickly move on and start focusing on the next match.
“I think at the moment I’m just very pleased that I was able to go through that match, you know, to go through it in such a manner, and I already have another match to play tomorrow. To be completely honest with you, everything kind of shifted already for tomorrow, but again, I’m very proud of myself that I was able to play such a good and clean match overall.
“Yeah, very grateful to be, again, to be that far into a Masters event, and I’m very excited for what’s next.”
Next up for Dimitrov is fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev.
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