Miami Open: Dimitrov Stuns Alcaraz to reach semi final

Grigor Dimitrov ended Carlos Alcaraz’s chances of completing the ‘Sunshine Double’ Thursday at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where the Bulgarian ousted the top seed 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.

The 32-year-old was bold in maintaining aggression, crushing 24 winners, and producing variety to defeat the Indian Wells champion, who was riding a nine-match winning streak.

“I think overall to win against him you have to play at your best, that’s just how it is,” Dimitrov said. “I came into the match very focussed and I think [it was] extremely clear what I had to do.

“Sometimes simplicity is genius. It’s very, very hard to do it, especially when you play against an opponent like that, but I was really able to dictate the game, read the game a little bit better than last time. Overall, I think a very great match on my end and I’m just happy I finished in straight sets.”

Now into the Miami semi-finals for the first time, Dimitrov has reached the last four at eight of the nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. Friday’s clash against fourth seed Alexander Zverev will mark Dimitrov’s fourth semi-final of 2024. Dimitrov boasts a 19-4 season record with his best result being a title run in Brisbane.

Alexander Zverev ensured that Fabian Marozsan’s pair of Top 10 wins did not turn into a hat-trick Thursday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

The World No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings, now into his third semi-final of the season, earned a 6-3, 7-5 victory against the Hungarian, who defeated Top 10 stars Holger Rune and Alex de Minaur en route to the last eight.