Carlos Alcaraz dreamed of achieving the Sunshine Doublebut was ‘woken up’ by Grigor Dimitrov in the Florida heat and ended up defeated in the quarterfinals of Miami Opentournament that has broadcast by ESPN on Star+.
After being champion in Indian Wells at the beginning of March, Carlitos was one of the main favorites for the cup in Miami and hoped to complete the “Double Sunshine”a symbolic title for whoever wins the first two Masters 1000 of the season, but it did not count on the 32-year-old Bulgarian’s powerful service and game volume. Grigor dictated the pace of the match and won the match by 2 sets to 0with partials of 6/2 and 6/4.
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This was the 5th meeting between the tennis players on the ATP circuit. Even with the defeat, Alcaraz still has the upper hand with 3 wins, but in the last two meetings, including this one in Florida, Dimitrov was the one who stood out.
The Bulgarian, who was already top 3 in 2017, has experienced a true renaissance in recent months, when he was champion of the ATP 250 in Brisbane in January, ending a 6-year drought without lifting a trophy and further expanding an impressive statistic: Dimitrov is the tennis player born in the 1990s with the most victories on the ATP circuit. The win over Alcaraz was number 432.
The match started with Dimitrov on fire and not giving Alcaraz room to breathe on the court. The Spaniard was broken in his first service game of the game and was unable to recover in the end. In less than an hour and with a powerful serve, the 32-year-old Bulgarian closed the first set with another break and made it 6-2.
In the 2nd set, the current number 12 in the world, once again, broke the Spaniard at the beginning of the partial and confirmed his services with a certain agility. The former top 3 player was very sharp and distributed several winners across the court. Alcaraz even threatened a reaction, but the Bulgarian regained control of the match and closed with 6-4.
With the victory, Grigor Dimitrov now faces Alexander Zverev in the semifinals of the Miami Open. The duel is scheduled for this Friday night, at 8pm (Brasília time), with broadcast by ESPN on Star+. The 26-year-old German tennis player, currently number 5 in the world, is the second tennis player from the 90s with the most victories on the circuit, behind only Dimitrov himself.