Grigor Dimitrov upsets Carlos Alcaraz in Miami quarterfinals for 40th Top 10 win of career

Grigor Dimitrov has taken out Carlos Alcaraz, 6-2, 6-4, to reach the semifinals of the Miami Open for the first time in his career.

The Bulgarian has now reached the semifinals or better at three of the last four Masters 1000 events, having been a semifinalist in Shanghai last October, a finalist in Paris last November, and now (at least) a semifinalist in Miami. He reached the fourth round of Indian Wells a few weeks ago before falling to Daniil Medvedev.

He’s also now reached the semifinals or better at eight of the nine Masters 1000 events in his career, the only one missing being Madrid, where his best result was a quarterfinal showing in 2015.

And there’s one more thing: Dimitrov’s victory over the No. 2-ranked Alcaraz was the milestone 40th Top 10 win of his career.

The Bulgarian, who was born in 1991, is just the third man born in 1990 or later to record 40 or more wins over Top 10 players, after Alexander Zverev (born in 1997) and Medvedev (born in 1996).

MOST CAREER TOP 10 WINS (men, active players):
257: Novak Djokovic
186: Rafael Nadal
105: Andy Murray
62: Stan Wawrinka
50: Alexander Zverev
44: Daniil Medvedev
40: Kei Nishikori
40: Grigor Dimitrov

Dimitrov now owns five career wins over Top 2 players, with one win over a No. 1 (Novak Djokovic at Madrid in 2013) and now four over No. 2s (Andy Murray at Miami in 2016, Medvedev at Indian Wells in 2021, Alcaraz at Shanghai last year and now in Miami).

Dimitrov came out swinging on Thursday night, storming out to a 6-2, 4-1 lead in just over an hour on court, and it looked like it could be even more of a blow-out as he brought up a break point for a second break in the second set with Alcaraz serving at 1-4, 30-40.

The match took a brief turn from there, as Alcaraz not only fought off that break point and held to close the gap to 4-2, but then broke Dimitrov and held again to tie the second set up at 4-all.

But Dimitrov caught fire one last time, holding at 30 for 5-4 and then breaking at 15 to close it out after an hour and 32 minutes.

The Bulgarian finished the match with almost twice as many winners as unforced errors, 24 to 14, and his winners came from everywhere—12 off the forehand, 8 off the backhand and 4 aces.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, finished with 18 winners to 17 unforced errors.

“To win against him you have to play at your best, that’s just how it is,” Dimitrov said. “I came in very focused and extremely clear on what I had to do, and sometimes simplicity is genius—it’s hard to do it when you’re playing someone like him, though.

“I’m just happy I finished in straight sets.”

Awaiting Dimitrov in the semifinals will be No. 5-ranked Zverev, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Fabian Marozsan earlier in the day. Zverev leads their head-to-head, 7-1, winning their last seven in a row.

If Dimitrov wins that match, he’ll return to the Top 10 on Monday.