Miami Open: Grigor Dimitrov ousts Carlos Alcaraz; Elena Rybakina outlasts Azarenka

Miami: Eleventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov came out strong against top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday night and went on to win 6-2, 6-4 in the Miami Open quarterfinals, his first victory over a top-five player in nearly five years.

Fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev, who beat unseeded Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-5, will play Dimitrov in the semifinals on Friday. Second-seeded Jannik Sinner will face No. 3 Daniil Medvedev in the other semifinal, a rematch of last year’s final that Medvedev won.

Alcaraz, the 2022 champion, entered this tournament off a victory over Medvedev at Indian Wells. But the world’s second-ranked player had trouble finding his game against Dimitrov and became visibly frustrated numerous times in the first set.

Alcaraz, however, didn’t go away even after falling behind a break at 4-2 in the second set. He broke Dimitrov at love and then held serve to even the set at 4-4. But then Dimitrov won the final two games, breaking Alcaraz in the clincher.

This was Dimitrov’s first victory over a top-five player since he beat then-No. 3 Roger Federer in the quarterfinals of the 2019 U.S. Open.

On the women’s side, American Danielle Collins advanced to her first career WTA 1000 final with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No.14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

The 2022 Australian Open finalist, unseeded in this tournament needed just 75 minutes to dispatch Alexandrova, who beat World No.1 Iga Swiatek and No.5 seed Jessica Pegula en route to her first semifinal in Miami.

The 30-year-old, bidding to be the first unseeded champion in Miami since Kim Clijsters in 2005, will face No.4 seed Elena Rybakina for the title at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday. Collins has won two titles previously in her career, both in 2021.

Collins is the first American to reach the Miami final since Sloane Stephens in 2018 — who won the title. Only four Americans have reached the final at this tournament in the last 15 years, with Collins and Stephens joining the Williams sisters in achieving that, WTA reports.

Earlier in the evening, World No.4 Rybakina advanced to her fourth final of the season after defeating No.27 seed Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(2) in the semifinals.

Rybakina has enjoyed an outstanding start to her season on the hard courts, with titles in Brisbane, Abu Dhabi and her first WTA 1000 final of the year in Doha.

Last year, Rybakina was a win away from sweeping the Sunshine Double, falling to Petra Kvitova 7-6(14), 6-2 in the Miami final.

She is just the third player in the last 10 years to make back-to-back Miami finals, joining Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty, the youngest player to do so since Maria Sharapova in 2005-2006. Agencies

Also Read: Miami Open: No.14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova posts upset with victory over Pegula

Also Watch: