MIAMI/WASHINGTON, March 29, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)
Two remaining semifinal spots were up for grabs at the Miami Open Thursday, with No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner and No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev already having secured their places in the semifinal lineup.
At the start of the day, if top seed Carlos Alcaraz and No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev joined them, it would mark the first time in Miami Open tournament history that all-Top Four seeds reached the semifinals and the first time in an ATP Masters 1000 event since 2021 at the Cincinnati Masters.
No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov had other plans, though.
Zverev looks forward to more challenges ahead
In Thursday’s opener, 2018 runner-up Zverev appeared in his fourth Miami quarterfinal, against unseeded Fabian Marozsan in their first meeting.
The German No. 1 looked to advance to his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal of the season, after losing to eventual Indian Wells champion Alcaraz in the quarterfinal round two weeks ago.
As it happened, the World No. 5 Zverev advanced into his third semifinal of the season with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over the 24-year-old Marozsan, who earlier in the Miami fortnight defeated Top 10 stars Holger Rune and Alex de Minaur to reach the last eight. Zverev won his 18th match of the season after breaking the 57th-ranked Hungarian twice in the opening set, the second after Marozsan double-faulted on set point in the ninth game. Then, Zverev gained a match point on Marozsan’s serve at 5-6 (40-Ad) and hit a second-shot backhand winner to put away the victory.
Zverev powers through 💥@AlexZverev reaches ATP Masters 1000 SF No. 1⃣7⃣ as he moves past Marozsan 6-3 7-5@MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/r91bu2J7oT
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 28, 2024
Zverev hit 20 winners to 10 unforced errors, compared to 29 winners and 23 unforced errors for Marozsan. He saved both break points he faced, converted three of seven break point opportunities and outpointed his opponent 72-63.
“I’m happy to be back in these late stages of these tournaments, playing the best players in the world, I think there are only those left,” Zverev said during his on-court interview. “Looking forward to the challenge.”
Sascha supreme 🙌
2018 runner-up @AlexZverev edges Fabian Marozsan 6-3 7-5 to reach his second semi-final at #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/cEc4Ol4vMx
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 28, 2024
Simplicity is genius for Dimitrov in upset of Alcaraz
Meanwhile, World No. 2 Alcaraz took a 3-1 head-to-head win-loss record into his quarterfinal match against Dimitrov, with an eye toward winning the Sunshine Double after lifting the trophy at Indian Wells earlier this month. The lower-ranked Bulgarian won their latest match at the ATP Masters 1000 in Shanghai last October and would use that experience to his advantage in Miami.
The 20-year-old Spaniard, who won the Miami Open title in 2022 and reached the semifinals last year, aimed to become the first player to reach three consecutive Miami semifinals since Novak Djokovic achieved the feat in 2014-16. It wasn’t meant to be for Alcaraz.
A happy Grigor 🥰@MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen | @GrigorDimitrov pic.twitter.com/CwxtUTI0Nd
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 29, 2024
That’s because the World No. 12 Dimitrov put on a shot making display from first ball to last ball and his greatness was on display through his 92-minute, 6-2, 6-4 take down of Alcaraz that electrified the Hard Rock Stadium crowd, which filled every seat and cheered loudly in appreciation.
Dimitrov completed his victory with 24 winners to just 14 unforced errors, won 77 percent of his first-serve points and converted four of eight break point opportunities. He outpointed his opponent 64-51. Alcaraz countered with 18 winners to 17 unforced errors, but it wasn’t enough. He broke Dimitrov just once, in the second set to pull even at 4-all. However, the 32-year-old Bulgarian held for 5-4 with his fourth ace and won on his first match-point opportunity when he broke Alcaraz in the very next game.
“I’m just happy I finished in straight sets for once.” 😜@GrigorDimitrov #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/LYXb8RqM2b
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 29, 2024
“I think overall to win against him you have to play at best, that’s just how it is,” Dimitrov said in his post-match, on-court interview. “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.”
Alcaraz was asked in his post-match news conference what impressed him most in Dimitrov’s game. He said: “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. It was a great game from his side.”
Dimitrov’s victory, which improved his season win-loss record to 19-4 (with one title at Brisbane), has lifted him into his first Miami Open semifinals. He has reached the last four at eight of the nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. His meeting against Zverev will be his fourth semifinal of 2024.
The Final 4⃣ in Miami 🌴@MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/L06iCCxpa9
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 29, 2024
Around the Miami Open
Australian Open champions and No. 1 seeds Rohan Bopanna of India and Matthew Ebden of Australia swept past Spanish/Argentine fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, finalists in Indian Wells earlier this month, 6-1, 6-4, in just 53 minutes to win their semifinal and advance to Saturday’s title match.
Bopanna and Ebden won 88 percent of their service points, losing just five points on their serve. They faced no break points and converted three of seven break points against Granollers and Zeballos. The Indian/Aussie duo outpointed their opponents 54-32.
In the other semifinal, Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Austin Krajicek of the United States, who won five titles last season, rallied to defeat seventh seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 10-7, in one hour and 47 minutes. The Croatia/American pair came back from being down 1-6 in the match tie-break to win. They outpointed their German opponents 73-64.
Friday’s Miami Open order of play
By the numbers
Daniil Medvedev is the third consecutive defending champion of the Miami Open to reach the semifinals the following year after Hubert Hurkacz (2021 title, 2022 semifinals) and Carlos Alcaraz (2022 title, 2023 semifinals).
Fabian Marozsan, who was competing in his second ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal at the Masters 1000 level, improved 19 spots to a career-high No. 38 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. On Monday, Marozsan will become just the fourth Hungarian to reach the Top 50 in PIF ATP Rankings history (since 1973).
“Quotable …”
“Physically I feel good. I’m just happy to compete. We practice very hard to be in these positions and I’m really happy I can play once again in the semis here at such a special tournament. It’s special for me, I made my first Masters 1000 final here, so I’m really happy to be back in the semis.”
— No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner, during his on-court interview, following his quarterfinal win over Tomas Machac on Wednesday.
“I was just using every opportunity I had. I think every second serve I had, I was attacking it. I was making sure I was putting him in a very difficult position. I had to keep on being aggressive, come to the net, move the ball around and not let him hit.”
— No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov, during his on-court interview, following his upset of No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday.
