Carlos Alcaraz didn't do himself any favours in the battle for number one by crashing out fairly early at the Shanghai Masters against Grigor Dimitrov.
First of all, let's give Dimitrov his flowers because he played a really great match. The Bulgarian has quietly had one of his best seasons in years, as this win over Alcaraz is his 37th this year. His overall score is 37-18 now, which is quite impressive considering that the last time he won this many matches was in 2017.
When it comes to Alcaraz, it was a continuation of old demons. He played well but just not well enough or rather not well enough when it mattered the most. Problems arose pretty early on in this one as he lost his serve midway through the opening set.
Dimitrov was playing really well, but Alcaraz was allowing it to happen. Any time you're considered the better player, you kind of take the credit if you win but also much of the blame if you lose. Alcaraz mounted a valiant comeback in the opening set, taking it 7-5.
At that moment, you'd think that the match is over, considering Dimitrov's reputation of falling apart when things go badly, but no. Dimitrov didn't falter; he actually rose above all of this and outplayed Alcaraz fairly easily 6-2.
A few things contribute to that: a slight regression from the Spaniard while Dimitrov was amazing with 9 winners and only 1 unforced error. The final set was a pretty close one, but it came down to playing better in the crucial moments. Alcaraz had a shaky service game early, and he got broken.
He never got a break chance on the serve of Dimitrov, and that was it. The final score was 5-7 6-2 6-4 for the Bulgarian who moved on to the quarter-finals. Somewhat of a blow to Alcaraz's aspirations to finish the year as No. 1 but it's not over yet.
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