For some strange reason, Dimitrov, ranked at 28 in the ATP rankings, came out onto the court with the impression that he thought he had no chance of overcoming Alcaraz despite his good form. He had just reached the semifinals at the ATP 500 in Vienna, where he lost to Daniil Medvedev.
In Paris, he won his two previous matches without losing a set and had even beaten Fabio Fognini 6-0 in the last round.
The first set was a walkover for the Spaniard. He won 12 of the 14 points with his serve and broke his opponent's serve three times, taking advantage of his 11 unforced errors. In less than half an hour (29 minutes) he already had half a foot in the quarter-finals thanks to his good work and the Bulgarian's lack of discipline.
This dynamic continued at the start of the second set, where the Murcian steamroller went 3-0 up and it seemed that a competitive match wouldn't be on the cards. At that point, the real Dimitrov made an appearance.
It is also true though, that Alcaraz encouraged him to get into the match with two double faults in the fifth game, in which Dimitrov recovered the initial break. In professional tennis you cannot give chances to your opponent, and the player from El Palmar was close to regretting it because, at 3-3 on his serve, he had to come back from 15-40 to avoid going behind.
But in the next game, Dimitrov fell away, and his recover was short lived. The U.S. Open champion upped his game and closed out the match in an hour and 13 minutes in what was his 57th victory so far this season.
In the quarter-finals, Alcaraz will face the in-form Holger Rune, who beat Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-5. He will have to continue in the same fashion to be able to dream of a Parisian title, which would also mathematically confirm his finish at the top of the tennis world in 2022.
