SHANGHAI: Grigor Dimitrov fought back to beat top seed Carlos Alcaraz in three sets and reach the quarter-finals on Wednesday in the latest upset at the Shanghai Masters. The 18th seed won 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 against an out-of-sorts Alcaraz as the Bulgarian steps up his pursuit of a first ATP title since 2017. He will next face the 22nd-seeded Nicolas Jarry after the Chilean defeated wild card Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. The first Shanghai Masters since the pandemic has opened up for Dimitrov after the early exits of Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune.
World number one Novak Djokovic is not in China. "I’m still here, I’m not going anywhere,” the 32-year-old Dimitrov said afterwards. Spain’s Alcaraz, the world number two, was chasing a seventh tour-level title of the season but he uncharacteristically crumbled after winning the first set. The 20-year-old Alcaraz took time to find his range and Dimitrov broke for 3-2 in the first set with a vicious whipped forehand return. Dimitrov was broken back as he served for the set in a riveting 10th game involving two thrilling rallies that both times saw Alcaraz come out on top.
Alcaraz held and then broke again to wrap the set up in just under an hour. But rather than power on to victory, Alcaraz let the match get away from him. The clean-hitting Dimitrov gathered himself to race into a 2-0 lead in the second set, then broke again for 5-2, before sealing the set when Alcaraz shanked his return. They went to a decider and an unusually flustered Alcaraz was broken in the third game after yet another unforced error. Alcaraz let out a roar of anger as the match slipped away from him.
Dimitrov held his nerve to serve out his first victory over the Spaniard on his second match point. "I knew what I had to do,” said Dimitrov. "I knew I had to apply constant pressure against him. "Even if I was down, even if my shots were not good enough, I had to put him in uncomfortable positions. "He doesn’t like being on the back foot.” Alcaraz, who had been the favourite for the Shanghai crown in Djokovic’s absence, said he had always been up against it. "He was on another level today, this Grigor,” said Alcaraz, who lost to Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals in Beijing and won’t look back on his visit to China with much fondness as a result.
"I was all the time defending, I could not find the way to put myself in a position to attack.” Later in the day, American 12th seed Tommy Paul plays Russian Andrey Rublev—the highest remaining seed in the draw at five. The winner meets Ugo Humbert of France in the quarter-finals after the 32nd seed demolished J.J. Wolf of the United States 6-1, 6-2 in just 57 minutes. Earlier, Zheng Qinwen underlined her status as the future of Chinese women’s tennis with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 win over sixth-ranked Maria Sakkari at the Zhengzhou Open on Wednesday.
It was the 21-year-old Zheng’s fifth top-10 victory of her young career and set up a quarter-final with Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina. Zheng sealed victory with her 13th ace of the match, to the delight of the home fans. A quarter-finalist at the US Open last month, Zheng is searching for a second WTA title, having triumphed in Palermo in July. Ranked 24 in the world, Zheng was dealt a blow a few weeks ago when her coach Wim Fissette ended their partnership to go back to working with former world number one Naomi Osaka, who is set to return from maternity leave next season.
But the 2022 WTA Newcomer of the Year rebounded in style, clinching gold at the Asian Games in Hangzhou and now taking down third seed Sakkari for the first time in three meetings. "The game plan today was to fight for every single point and try to play aggressive when I can because the last two times I played her I was not aggressive enough and I stayed too long in the same spot,” said Zheng. "I think tonight the fans here helped me a lot,” she added. The seeds exodus started earlier in the day when Jasmine Paolini knocked out reigning WTA Finals champion and sixth seed Caroline Garcia 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in two hours and 17 minutes.
The Italian world No.31 saved four match points on her own serve at 4-5 in the deciding set before claiming a crucial break in the 11th game to punch her ticket to the quarter-finals for a sixth time in 2023. The 27-year-old now awaits Laura Siegemund or Liudmila Samsonova in the last eight. "I lost to Caroline four times and it was really tough,” she said. "I think I got experience from the matches that I lost to her and I tried to do something better.” -- AFP