Carlos Alcaraz has admitted he had no idea how to unsettle Grigor Dimitrov as he suffered a surprise exit at the Miami Open.
The Spaniard crashed out of the tournament in straight sets at the quarter-final stage and said he was made to feel like he was '13 years old' by his opponent.
Alcaraz was back at the venue where he won his first Masters 1000 title as an 18-year-old in 2022 and looked good on his way to the quarter-final.
But world No 12 Dimitrov rolled back the years to put on a fine display to see out a 6-2, 6-4 win at the Hard Rock Stadium.
Carlos Alcaraz was left frustrated after losing to Grigor Dimitrov at the Miami Open
Getty
Alcaraz says he was full of 'frustrations' after the match but conceded that his opponent was just far too good on the day.
The 20-year-old said: "He played amazing tennis, almost perfect. I couldn't find solutions.
"I couldn't find a way to make him feel uncomfortable on the court. It was a great game from his side.
"I left the court thinking that probably I had to change my game a little bit earlier, but anyway, I feel like I played good tennis. Not perfect but good.
"But I have a lot of frustrations right now because he made me feel like I'm 13 years old. It was crazy.
"I was talking to my team saying that I don't know what I have to do. I don't know his weakness. I don't know anything."
Alcaraz says he will try to adopt a different approach when he next plays Dimitrov having now lost his last two matches against the Bulgarian.
He added: "I really want to see the stats. You know, probably they're going to rank him 10 or 9.9, something like that, but I don't know. I don't know.
"Once you step on the court, it's even tougher to find solutions to see, you know, where you have to go or what you have to do.
"Probably the next match that I'm going to play against him, and I'm sure that there's going to be another one, I try to do a lot of different things.
"Let's see what it's gonna be but, you know, seeing Grigor playing at this level, it's really tough to play against him."
Dimitrov was delighted to get over the line but he hasn't got long to dwell on his victory.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
Grigor Dimitrov beat Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets at the Miami Open
Getty
He faces Alexander Zverev in the semi-final on Saturday evening after the German beat Fabian Marozsan.
The 32-year-old said: "Overall, to win against him, you have to play at your best. That's just how it is.
"I came into the match focused and I think it was extremely clear what I had to do.
Grigor Dimitrov will play Alexander Zverev in the semi-final after beating Carlos Alcaraz
Getty
"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."
