Grigor Dimitrov is through to the Miami quarterfinals for the first time in his career, but Carlos Alcaraz stands in his way of the semis on Thursday. Alexander Zverev and Fabian Marozsan are also part of the schedule.
(1) Carlos Alcaraz vs. (11) Grigor Dimitrov
Alcaraz won the Miami Open in 2022 before losing to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals last year. The Spaniard is looking like a man who wants his title back. Fresh off a triumph at the Indian Wells Masters, Alcaraz has extended his winning streak to nine matches with Miami victories over Roberto Carballes Baena, Gael Monfils, and Lorenzo Musetti. The 20-year-old has dominated by set scores of 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, and 6-3.
Up next for Alcaraz during quarterfinal action on Thursday is Dimitrov. Their head-to-head series stands at 3-1 in favor of the world No. 2, but the Bulgarian won their most recent meeting 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 this past fall in Shanghai. That gave Dimitrov a spot in the quarterfinals and he has now reached this stage at all nine Masters 1000 events–Miami was the last missing piece to that puzzle before the 32-year-old outlasted Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) on Tuesday. He preceded that result with victories over Alejandro Tabilo (in three sets) and Yannick Hanfmann (6-1, 6-0). Dimitrov is playing well, but Alcaraz is in entirely different form that he was last fall and should be eager to win a 10th consecutive match while avenging his Shanghai loss.
Pick: Alcaraz in 2
(4) Alexander Zverev vs. Fabian Marozsan
Like Dimitrov, Marozsan will also be playing in the Miami quarterfinals for the first time in his career. Of course, that is far less surprising. After all, Marozsan was largely unheard of as recently as last May. That is when the Hungarian stunned Alcaraz at the Rome Masters as a qualifier ranked No. 135 in the world. Fast forward 10 months and Marozsan has become somewhat of a Masters 1000 specialist. The 24-year-old is an unbelievable 14-3 lifetime in the main draw of Masters 1000s following Miami victories over Aleksandar Kovacevic, Holger Rune (6-1, 6-1), Alexei Popyrin, and Alex de Minaur.
Up next for Marozsan is a first-ever encounter with Zverev, who is also playing awesome tennis. The fifth-ranked German is 17-5 in 2024, a record that includes a semifinal performance at the Australian Open. Zverev booked his spot in the last eight at the Miami Masters with straight-set defeats of Felix Auger-Aliassime, Chris Eubanks, and Karen Khachanov. It is worth noting that Marozsan lost to Khachanov 6-4, 7-5 last month in Doha, and he has struggled against power players this season (also lost to Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz in mostly routine fashion). The underdog may be able to trouble Zverev at times, but this is likely where his run ends.
Pick: Zverev in 2
WWW?
have to agree….Carlos in 2; Sasha in 2.
“..Alcaraz is in entirely different form that he was last fal…..”
Judging by IW result?
IW court suits perfectly Alcaraz game, painfully slow court (slower then some CCs) with a bounce where ball sits dead in the air after bounce giving Alcaraz all the time of this world to unleash his FH, drop shot etc. You don’t judge his form based on one tournament that suits perfectly his game, no other masters or GS suits his game as IW.
He was thoroughly outplayed by Dimitrov, don’t tell me he was injured….again?