Carlos Alcaraz’s run at Queen’s continued as he overcame Grigor Dimitrov to seal his place in the semi-final.
The 20-year-old admitted earlier this week that he has had to adjust his expectations on the grass court after an impressive win over Jiri Lehecka. And the Spaniard’s confidence will have only grown after dispatching Dimitrov 6-4 6-4 in a high quality game.
He is into his first semi-final on grass and will meet Sebastian Korda, who beat Cameron Norrie earlier in the day.
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“Obviously the matches that I played are a great level coming into this,” said Alcaraz, who defeated Arthur Rinderknech in the first round.
“It was a really top match. Grigor is a really top player on every surface but I would say even more here on grass. You know, he feels the ball really well, so yeah, I played really well since the beginning until the last ball.”
Alcaraz admits he has been watching videos of the game’s best on grass in preparation for this tournament.
“I’m trying to imitate them a little bit. I think I did well,” he added.
“I’m a guy who learns so fast. I’m playing such at a great level and feeling really, really comfortable on grass.”
It was pointed out to Alcaraz that all four of this year’s semi-finalists are under the age of 25 and the Spaniard admits he is enjoying the challenge of playing against competitors of similar age.
“It’s great to play against the young players as well, like me,” he said.
“Obviously we are going to play a lot of matches in such great events, great rounds, in great tournaments so it’s going to be really fun to play.”
Playing only the ninth grass court match of his career, Alcaraz showed no signs of nerves as he broke his opponent in the opening game – aided by two double faults – and held to love in the second.
Dimitrov, a 2014 winner of this competition, was able to cling to the coattail of Alcaraz with successive holds.
Alcaraz faced three break points in the fifth game but showed nerves of steel by pulling off a classy forehand drop shot to bring the crowd to their feet before securing the hold after almost 12 minutes.
The opening game aside, Dimitrov was confident and composed but he failed to reel his opponent in as he lost the first set.
The Bulgarian, however, took the initiative in the second set with an early break helping him to a commanding 3-0 lead.
Alcaraz was made to work to get his name on the scoreboard, and the set was turned on its head when the Spaniard claimed a break following another double fault by his opponent.
From a break down, Alcaraz turned the game around with a backhand winner as he edged 4-3 in front and closed in on victory.
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The passage to victory wasn’t straightforward, however, as despite fending off two break points, Dimitrov eventually fought his way back in to level at 4-4 – only to commit yet another double fault and allow Alcaraz to edge back in front.
Serving for victory, there was no further drama as Alcaraz saw the job through.
Meanwhile, British number one Norrie crashed following a 6-4 7-6(1) loss to American Korda.
Norrie was punished for an error-littered first set display and although he improved in the second, Korda proved too strong in the tie-break.
“I’m pretty disappointed with the way I finished the match,” said Norrie, per the Express.
“I fought really hard to get back into it and then he played a very loose start to the tie-break and he capitalised on that.
“I’m not concerned. I feel like I turned a corner after the clay. I feel like I’m definitely improving. In the big moments, I haven’t been playing as well as I was earlier in the year.
“I’ll do my best to be ready. I have some time to rest now. I’m looking forward to it.”
Holger Rune recorded a 6-4 7-5 win over Lorenzo Musetti. He will meet Alex De Minaur after he defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-4 4-6 6-4.
In the wheelchair singles event, top seed Alfie Hewett brushed aside Pakistan’s Asif Abbasi 6-1 6-0 to set up an intriguing semi-final against Gordon Reid after he beat India’s Manojkanth Somasundaram 6-0 6-0.
It will be a 40th meeting between the pair and comes just weeks after they won the French Open doubles title together for a fourth successive year.
In the quarter-finals of the Birmingham Classic, Harriet Dart was beaten by fourth seed Anastasia Potapova 4-6 6-3 6-4.
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