MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — On Thursday night, No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov faced No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz and won 6-2, 6-4 in the Miami Open quarterfinals, his first against a top-five player. It was a victory. For the first time in almost 5 years.
Fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev, who beat unseeded Fabian Marosan 6-3, 7-5, will face Dimitrov in Friday’s semifinals.
In the other semi-final, second-seeded Jannik Sinner will face third-placed Daniil Medvedev, a rematch of last year’s final. Medvedev won.
Dimitrov said: “I don’t want to judge the quality of our play against Alcaraz because we have to play again tomorrow.” I’m trying to get to the point. This is how we play our sport. Of course, that’s a blessing. You are very happy with your victory now. Then we have to focus on the next match right away. ”
Alcaraz, the 2022 champion, entered the tournament with a win over Medvedev in Indian Wells.
However, the world No. 2 struggled to find his game against Dimitrov and was visibly frustrated on multiple occasions in the first set.
But Alcaraz didn’t give up after falling behind to a 4-2 break in the second set.
He broke Dimitrov at love, then held serve to even the set at 4-4.
However, Dimitrov won his final two matches, defeating Alcaraz in the clincher.
Alacaras said Dimitrov’s play was “almost perfect.”
“He made me feel like a 13-year-old, so I’m very frustrated right now,” said Alcaraz, 20. “It was crazy. I was talking to the team that I don’t know what we have to do. I don’t know his weaknesses. He doesn’t know anything.”
This was Dimitrov’s first win against a top-five player since defeating then-world No. 1. 3 Roger Federer in his 2019 US Open quarterfinals.
On the women’s side, fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina once again forced a three-set lead before defeating No. 27 Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (2) in the semifinals.
Rybakina, who is ranked No. 4 on the WTA Tour, will face unseeded Danielle Collins, who defeated No. 14 Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-2, on Saturday.
Rybakina also reached the final last year, but lost to Petra Kvitova in straight sets.
“This year has changed a lot,” Rybakina said. “To be honest, I didn’t expect to make it to the finals because I wasn’t really prepared for this tournament, but I’m really happy that I fought through all my matches and made it to the finals again.”
A day off will be welcome for Rybakina, who has gone to three sets in all but one of her matches this tournament. Thursday’s match lasted 2 hours and 33 minutes, and she told the Tennis Channel that for the first time in her career she took a day off between matches during a tournament.
“At first, these long matches helped me get back in shape,” Rybakina said. “Right now I’m not feeling well because I’m tired from the long matches, but no matter what happens in the final, it was a really successful tournament overall.”
Rybakina appeared to be in control in the third set, breaking Azarenka’s serve to take a 3-2 lead.
Azarenka fended off four break points before hitting a two-handed backhand into the net to give Rybakina the victory.
Azarenka showed considerable strength in the second set, where she only lost two points on serve, including one on a double fault.
But Azarenka wasn’t finished.
With Rybakina serving for the match, Azarenka broke back to even the final set at 5-5.
Both players then held serve and the match went into a tiebreak, with Rybakina winning 6-1.
She closed out the win with a crosscourt forehand.
Rybakina is aiming for her third title this year.
She is 4-0 in her career against Azarenka, including two wins this year.
Azarenka, 34, was trying to become the oldest winner of the tournament.
She became the second oldest semifinalist. Venus Williams, 36, reached the semifinals in 2017.
