Alcaraz Moves Into His First Grass Semifinal At Queen's Club After Beating Dimitrov

| by Zachary Wimer

Carlos Alcaraz is improving with every match that he plays on grass and this time he defeated Grigor Dimitrov at the 2023 Cinch Championships.

Coming to the Queen's Club, the Spaniard was set to play only his third grass-court tournament in his career, with the previous two being at Wimbledon. In his first match, Alcaraz really struggled against lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech, but he has improved since then.

In the second round, the 20-year-old showed his undeniable qualities when he outplayed Jiri Lehecka, and his expectations quickly went from 'not too high' to 'ready to get a good result on grass'.

Alcaraz certainly isn't someone who has a problem with confidence, and it's been helping him along the way. Taking on experienced Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals, Alcaraz knew that if he wants to keep the perfect record against the Bulgarian on the ATP Tour, he will have to work hard.

In the past, Alcaraz r defeated Dimitrov on hard and clay courts, and the grass-court meeting was the first for the two. Not waiting around, the top seed started with a break in the first game, which would later prove to be crucial.

The Spaniard faced three break points in the sixth game of the first set, but after saving all three, he held his following two service games to love, winning the opening set 6-4 and improving to 5-0 in sets against the Bulgarian.

The second set proved to be much more challenging for both players and this time around, fans at the Queen's Club saw many more breaks. First, Dimitrov sprinted into a 3-0 lead, but he soon lost that as Alcaraz broke back not just once, but twice to lead 4-3.

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However, the 32-year-old kept on fighting, breaking his opponent again and tying the score at four-all. But that was when Alcaraz accelerated even more, winning eight of the following nine points to win the match 6-4, 6-4, and reach his first-ever grass-court semifinal.

In the semifinals at the Queen's Club, he'll face another confident player in Sebastian Korda. The American bested Cameron Norrie in the quarterfinals, and he means business during the grass-court swing, proclaiming himself one of the Wimbledon favourites.

But Alcaraz improved a lot since his first match on the surface this year, and he also doesn't lack confidence. After beating experienced Dimitrov, he was really happy and talked about his progress during the on-court interview.

"Well, the work that I put these days, the matches that I played, helped me a lot coming into this match. Grigor is really a top player, on every surface, but even more here on grass. I just played really well since the beginning until the last ball, but the two matches helped me a lot."

During his stay at the Queen's Club, the Spaniard mentioned that he's been watching videos of the likes of Roger Federer, Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic, and he's been asked about that also after the match.

"The movement on grass, try to move easy and move well. Obviously, I watch the best players in the world, trying to imitate them a little bit, and I think I did well. I'm a guy who learns fast, and I'm feeling really comfortable on grass."

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