Carlos Alcaraz dismisses Grigor Dimitrov and goes to the round of 16 in Madrid

Ah, how beautiful Grigor Dimitrov’s tennis is! Each stroke exudes elegance and purity of gesture. The player himself, slender and slender, shines with feline grace. The problem, because there is one, is that Dimitrov is beautiful, but he does not win. Or not enough. Admittedly, his career will have nothing to be ashamed of when he puts the racquet back in the bag for good, but it will remain far from the hopes raised by his arrival on the circuit, when he was still “Baby Federer” as his gestures were identical to that of the master. But to equal the best regularly, it will always have lacked that little extra. Dimitrov, these are blows that bring back hope and a lot of disappointing tomorrows.

Quite the opposite of his winner of the day, the incredible Carlos Alcaraz. With the Spaniard, no problem realizing potential, we have already seen almost everything. At 19, he has already won a Grand Slam tournament and been world No. 1. And that’s just the beginning. So it’s perhaps a little less aesthetic than Dimitrov, but it’s much more effective. And that’s probably the most important. With an initial break, Alcaraz somewhat failed to kill the first set by letting slip two balls from 3-0. It was only a postponement with a second break to lead 5-2. On his serve, the conclusion was clear and it was hard to see how the Bulgarian was going to be able to reverse the trend in the second set.

Dimitrov rebels in the second set

Indeed, until then, he had been dominated in the rallies, unable to make troublesome returns for his opponent and guilty of bad inspirations. Faced with a caliber such as that of Alcaraz, it’s still a lot. So much so that we didn’t even have the impression of seeing the world No. 2 forcing his talent to dominate the match head and shoulders, unlike his entry into the running against Ruusuvuori (2-6, 6 -4, 6-2). We even saw him smile and appreciate the ola which ignited the Caja Magica at the start of the second set.

A Caja Majica that was going to capsize thanks to a few champagne points where the two players competed to touch the ball. Alcaraz lost a little concentration there while Dimitrov found a little aggressiveness there. Enough, in any case, to break and break away 4-2. Was the match going to change dimension? A staggering return game and white break for Alcaraz made it clear that the Spaniard was indeed still the boss on the court. A boss a little heckled by a more diligent Dimitrov. Until the Bulgarian harvested a service game to see Alcaraz break and lead 6-5. Impeccable on his last game of service, he completed the match with a winning forehand drop. Next will be Alexander Zverev, winner of Hugo Grenierin the round of 16.