Alcaraz arrives without losing sets in the quarterfinals and faces Dimitrov

Miami (USA) – In his third game at the Masters 1000 in Miami, Carlos Alcaraz achieved another victory in straight sets and secured his place in the quarterfinals. Main seed and event champion in 2022, the Spaniard beat the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 24th in the ranking, by double 6/3 in 1h25 of the match this Tuesday.

This was the Alcaraz’s third straight victory against Musetti in four games between them on the ATP circuit. The Italian had prevailed in the final in Hamburg in 2022, but the Spaniard won two games last year, at Roland Garros and Beijing. The current world number 2 also has a victory over Musetti in a challenger in 2020.

Still in search for an unprecedented ‘Sunshine Double’, Alcaraz is trying to be the first player since Roger Federer to win Indian Wells and Miami in the same season. The Swiss has already achieved this feat three times, the last time in 2017. The record holder is Novak Djokovic, who has won both tournaments four times. Unbeaten in nine games, the 20-year-old Spaniard now has 15 wins and just three defeats in the current circuit season.

With a great performance on serve during the opening set, Alcaraz did not face break-points and gave up just five points in his service games. The Spaniard achieved his first break in the opening game and would once again put pressure on his opponent’s serve in the final stretch of the set. Musetti reversed a 15-40 when he was already losing by 4/2 and saved the first set-point he faced, but did not avoid the second break and the loss of the partial.

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The second set started with long games and opportunities for both sides. After five break-points, Alcaraz finally got a break and led 4/2. The Spaniard subsequently lost serve, with Musetti taking advantage of his only break point of the entire game, but he soon regained the advantage. Playing aggressively with his forehand and looking for the net to define the points, the number 2 in the world broke again and defined the dispute in straight sets.

Duel against Dimitrov or Hurkacz in the quarterfinals
Alcaraz’s opponent in the quarterfinals in Miami, in a game scheduled for next Thursday, will be the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, number 12 in the ranking, who beat the Polish Hubert Hurkacz, 9th place, by 3/6, 6/ 3 and 6/3. The Spaniard has three victories against Dimitrov, in Paris, Madrid and on the grass of Queen’s, but lost the most recent duel, played last year in Beijing.

Dimitrov, 32 years old and former number 3 in the world, has the best result of his career in Miami. He had stopped twice in the round of 16, in 2012 and 2016. In this Tuesday’s match against Hurkacz, both the first and second sets had just one break each. The third was entirely dominated by the servers. When the decisive tiebreak was tied at 2-2, the chair referee scored a touch on the Pole’s net, and with that Dimitrov opened up a minimal advantage. The Bulgarian would still win one more point in the return to reach victory.