Grass-court newcomer Carlos Alcaraz through to Queen's Club semi-final with win over Grigor Dimitrov
- Michael Schmitt
- 24 June 2023
The Spaniard continues to show improvement on grass as he set up a semi-final clash with Sebastian Korda in London.
Carlos Alcaraz defeated the only former champion still in the field, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, to advance to the semi-finals of the cinch Championships.
The 6-4, 6-4 scoreline doesn't tell the whole story of the match, however, as Alcaraz was trailing 1-3 during a second set in which he twice lost his serve.
However, Dimitrov was unable to make his breaks stick, allowing Alcaraz to come roaring back and close out the victory.
The 20-year-old Spaniard, playing in only his third grass-court tournament, said: "The work that I put in and the matches that I've played at a great level helped me a lot coming into this tough match.
"Grigor is a top player on any surface, but especially on grass. But I played really well from the beginning to the last ball.
"I'm a guy who learns quite fast and I'm feeling really comfortable playing on grass."
Alcaraz moves on to face American Sebastian Korda, who ended Cameron Norrie's charge with a 6-4, 7-6 (1) victory.
Korda broke Norrie for 3-2 and had another break point for 5-2 in the opening set. Norrie wriggled out of that tight spot with a pair of aces, but he was unable to prevent Korda from wrapping up the set in 37 minutes.
Norrie hauled a break back for 3-3 in the second, the first time he had got anywhere near the Korda serve.
But Korda, the son of former Australian Open winner Petr and brother of major champion golfer Nelly, raced away with the tie-break to reach the last four on his Queen's debut.
"It's massive. I'm playing really well on grass, I feel comfortable and I'm really enjoying myself here.
"As many matches as I can get, I'm always super happy. Everything is clicking right now."
The second semi-final sees Denmark's Holger Rune take on Australian Alex de Minaur.
Rune was a 6-4, 7-5 winner over Italy's Lorenzo Musetti, while De Minaur dispatched France's Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
