Carlos Alcaraz’s hopes for a Sunshine Double came undone in spectacular fashion as the top-seeded Spaniard fell 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday to Grigor Dimitrov, who will move on to face Alexander Zverev in the Miami Open semi-finals.

Dimitrov, the Bulgarian 11th seed, won 77 per cent of his first-serve points compared to just 56 per cent for Alcaraz, turned aside four of the five break points he faced and broke the Spaniard four times during the 92-minute encounter.

It was a crushing defeat for Alcaraz, who arrived in Miami full of confidence after lifting the Indian Wells title 11 days ago but fell three wins shy of becoming the first man to clinch the Sunshine Double since Roger Federer in 2017.

“Overall, to win against him, you have to play at your best. That’s just how it is,” Dimitrov said after his second victory over world No. 2 Alcaraz in as many meetings.

“I came into the match focussed and I think it was extremely clear what I had to do.

“Sometimes simplicity is genius. It’s very hard to do it, especially when you play against an opponent like that, but I was able to dictate the game, read the game a bit better than the last time.

“Overall, a very great match on my end and I’m just happy I finished in straight sets.”

Up next for Dimitrov will be German fourth seed Zverev, who overcame tricky conditions to beat Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 7-5 in the day’s first match on the Stadium court.

Despite not dropping a set in windy conditions, Zverev had his hands full with Marozsan, who is making his Miami debut and enjoyed top-10 upsets over Holger Rune and Alex de Minaur on the way to the quarter finals.

“If he continues playing like that he’s going to rise up the rankings very quickly and he’s going to be one of those (top 10) guys himself,” Zverev said in his on-court interview.

“When we are in control, I think all top players when they are in control they feel like they can manage the match, manipulate the match a little bit in their own favour.”

Zverev’s win, sealed with a break when he unleashed a brilliant backhand down the line, marked his return to the Miami Open semi-finals for the first time since his runner-up finish in 2018.

Rybakina in title-round

Fourth seed Elena Rybakina overcame a second-set meltdown to beat Belarusian Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(2) and secure a return trip to the Miami Open final.

In Saturday’s title clash, Rybakina will face off against American Danielle Collins, who beat Russian 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-2 in the other semi-final.

Rybakina, the highest seed remaining in the women’s draw, won nearly 82 per cent of her first-serve points but converted only two of her 11 break-point chances en route to securing victory in two hours 33 minutes.

“It was such a tough battle,” Rybakina, a Moscow-born Kazakh, said.

Straight-sets win

India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden sailed into the men’s doubles final with a straight-sets win over Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos here.

Bopanna and Ebden, the Australian Open winners, hardly broke a sweat to get the better of Spain’s Granollers and Argentina’s Zeballos 6-1, 6-4 in the semi-finals.

Bopanna had slipped to second spot in the doubles rankings after a quarter-final loss at the Dubai Championships and a round-of-32 exit at the Indian Wells Masters, but the semi-final victory here will help the Indian regain the top spot when they are updated on Monday.

Following the Australian Open triumph, the 44-year-old Bopanna had climbed to the world No.1 spot in the ATP rankings, becoming the oldest player to do so.

In the final, Bopanna and Ebden will take on Ivan Dodig of Croatia and American Austin Krajicek, who beat the German duo of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz 6-4, 6-7(7), 10-7 in the other semi-final.

For Bopanna, this will be his 14th ATP Masters 1000 final and the first in Miami.

Bopanna also achieved a rare feat as he became the second Indian after Leander Paes to reach the final of all 9 ATP Masters events.