In a bout between two tennis titans, Grigor Dimitrov prevailed over World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory to register his mightiest win and qualify for the Rolex Shanghai Masters quarterfinals. Alcaraz, on the other hand, reflected on his latest loss to the Bulgarian player in one of his post-match interviews.
Spanish player Alcaraz laid his honest thoughts bare in front of the Shanghai press, explaining that this time World No. 19 Dimitrov played exceptionally well in the match, crushing him in the second set and not allowing him to recover.
“The truth is that I have the feeling that he played very well. His level was quite above the previous matches we played against each other. He did not have a single up or down. I thought that after the first set, which was hard for him, it would turn out very differently. I made some mistakes that didn’t matter at the beginning of the second set & he didn’t let me get back into the match. I tried at all times to find a way to apply my tennis, but I wasn’t able to.”
Alcaraz learned a lot
Alcaraz proceeded to say that he’s learned a lot from his thrilling match against Dimitrov, and that he will incorporate these lessons before competing in his next matches.
“ I was defending the whole game, without giving myself the opportunity to play as aggressively as I would have liked.. I have to learn to maintain concentration in moments like the start of the second set, where I was not good at all. I always say that you can learn much more from defeats than from victories.. I take many lessons to be better. I have to work more on some things if I want to beat the best. Before competing again, I am going to train in several aspects that I have been able to learn a lot from in this match, “ via The Tennis Letter.
Although Alcaraz got off to a great start with a score of 5-7, Dimitrov stayed in form and didn’t lose focus. In the two subsequent matches, Dimitrov finally equaled the Spanish player, whom he failed to defeat in three of their previous meetings, and eventually overtook him with a 6-2, 6-4 win.
“I stayed in the match, that was the first thing, especially after the first set,” Dimitrov said.
“After the second break in the second set I think I understood his service games and was able to put more balls in and read his serve a bit better. I think in the third set it was a bit of cat-and-mouse. I think we both played a solid set. He made a few errors and I was very solid and served well when I had to.”, he continued, per ATP tour.
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