MIAMI – World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz said he felt like a frustrated 13-year-old searching for answers, after his crushing defeat by Bulgarian veteran Grigor Dimitrov in the Miami Open quarter-finals on March 28.

Alcaraz, 20, arrived in Miami in top form after winning the Indian Wells trophy, but his hopes of becoming the first man to complete the Sunshine Double since Roger Federer in 2017 were dashed in a 6-2, 6-4 defeat.

It was the Spaniard’s second consecutive defeat by the 32-year-old Dimitrov following the three-set loss at the 2023 Shanghai Masters.

“He played amazing tennis, almost perfect. 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,” Alcaraz said.

“I left the court thinking that probably I had to change my game a little bit earlier, but anyway, I feel like I played good tennis. Not perfect but good.

“But I have a lot of frustrations right now, because he made me feel like I’m 13 years old. It was crazy.

“I was talking to my team, saying that I don’t know what I have to do. I don’t know his weakness. I don’t know anything.”

Twice Grand Slam champion Alcaraz said that he was already looking ahead to his next meeting with Dimitrov and planned to switch his game to extend his 3-2 win-loss record over him.

“Probably the next match that I’m going to play against him, and I’m sure that there’s going to be another one, I’ll try to do a lot of different things,” Alcaraz added. “Let’s see how it’s going to be.”

World No. 12 Dimitrov will play his fourth semi-final of the season when he takes on Alexander Zverev and will enter the top 10 if he wins.

“I’m not going to think from now what I can do. It’s just very important to stay in the moment,” Dimitrov said.

“That’s what our game is about. That’s the beauty of our game and it’s always the most simple things that are the most difficult to do.

“This is actually what I did tonight. I was just trying to do everything as simple as possible... I think in a way, same thing tomorrow, the same thing every match I’m going to be playing from now on. There’s no pulling back.”

In the other quarter-final, Germany’s Zverev held off rising Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-5 to book his place in the last four.

Zverev was delighted to have the chance to return to the final.

“I mean, I love Miami, I always said that. Obviously I’m happy to be back at these kind of late stages of these tournaments, playing the best players in the world. I think there’s only those left and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” he said.

Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev will play in the other semi-final on March 29 – a rematch of the Australian Open final won by Sinner in January. The match took place after press time.

In the women’s draw, Danielle Collins, in her final year on the WTA Tour before retirement, booked her first ever 1000 series final in Miami with a dominant 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova on March 28.

The 30-year-old Collins, will face fourth-ranked Elena Rybakina in the final on March 30.

The Kazakhstan player was pushed all the way by veteran Victoria Azarenka before coming out with a 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (7-2) victory.

Collins denied this week that her great run to the last four was a result of her playing with freedom after announcing her intention to retire.

But once again the American looked relaxed and in control as she took full charge of the contest against Alexandrova, who had beaten world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the last 16 before downing fifth seed Jessica Pegula of the United States.

“It’s even more special coming in my home state,” said Collins, who hails from St Petersburg in Florida. “I’ve had a couple of good years here, but this is definitely the most memorable.”

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic said on March 28 he was unsure who would be his new coach or even if there would be one, a day after ending a five-year association with Goran Ivanisevic.

Djokovic brought Croatia’s 2001 Wimbledon champion on board as a member of his team ahead of the grass-court Grand Slam in 2019 and under his guidance won 12 of his 24 career Major titles.

Fellow veteran Andy Murray will miss the Monte Carlo Masters and Munich Open in April as he recovers from a severe ankle injury sustained during his exit from the Miami Open, the Briton’s team announced on March 28. REUTERS, AFP