Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in shock exit from Shanghai Masters

Carlos Alcaraz has been dumped out of the Shanghai Masters by Grigor Dimitrov before the quarter-final stage.

The World No.2 has been handed a shock early exit from this year’s Shanghai Masters at the hands of Bulgarian Dimitrov, despite taking the first set 7-5 and looking to be on course for an easy progression into the quarter-finals.

Dimitrov will be revelling in his success over in Shanghai having defeated one of the best all-around tennis players on the planet right now in Alcaraz, especially when the difference in ATP ranks is taken into account.

This victory will be widely regarded as one of the best Dimitrov has managed to pull off for many years, but the world No. 19 was more than value for money during the game having put in an inspired display.

Carlos Alcaraz knocked out of Shanghai Masters by Grigor Dimitrov

Alcaraz was forced to win three straight games in the first set to take it from Dimitrov who started off brightly, but that appeared to take the energy out of the Spaniard while allowing the Bulgarian to realise he could certainly mix it with the Wimbledon winner.

The Spaniard has experienced a meteoric rise over the last 12-18 months having won 12 titles and felt what it’s like to be classed as the world’s best tennis player, although Novak Djokovic’s US Open win saw him fall back down to second place.

He will be hoping that this early exit does not see him tumble any further down the ATP rankings although he won’t fall further behind Djokovic, his Serbian rival, as he withdrew from the tournament prior to it all kicking off.

STATEMENT MADE! 😳#RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/9bUvqXHhKB

— Rolex Shanghai Masters (@SH_RolexMasters) October 11, 2023

While a lot of the talk will be about Alcaraz exiting the tournament at such an early stage, praise must go to Dimitrov for the work he did on the court to disrupt the Spaniard’s flow and reach a historic quarter-final.

Spain’s Alcaraz struggled to keep up first-set form

Indeed, this is the first time that the Bulgarian has managed to reach this stage of a Masters tournament since 2022 when he starred in Monte Carlo when he even went one step further and reached the semi-final where he was beaten by another Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

The Bulgarian knew he had to make adjustments after the first set defeat, otherwise, he would struggle to get past Alcaraz, as he explained post-victory: “I stayed in the match. I served really well but made a few errors in the first set.

“I was running out of opportunities but I started to understand his service game and I was solid in the third set.

“I knew what I had to do and I knew I had to apply constant pressure on him. I never left – 15 years still here. I’m not going anywhere.”

The next big tournament where Alcaraz is likely to feature is in the Rolex Paris Masters which starts at the end of October and runs right the way through until November 11, before then having his eyes focussed on the Australian Open, where he could face Rafael Nadal at some stage.