Carlos Alcaraz still processing shock Dimitrov loss but promises to bounce back

Few could have predicted the Spaniard's 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 defeat at the hands of the 32-year-old Dimitrov, but Alcaraz doesn't feel the result is any cause for alarm.

"I always say that you can improve more from the defeats than the wins. After this trip, I took a lot of lessons to improve, to be better," Alcaraz told reporters after the match. 

"As I said in Beijing, I have to work on a few things to beat the best guys and after this loss, it [happened] not too much time ago, so I have to think about it. But I will take a lot of lessons to improve in practice before the tournaments that I have ahead.

"I think I'm playing great tennis. Even if I didn't make the quarter-finals [in Shanghai] or lost in the semi-finals [in Beijing], I think I'm playing great tennis. So I have to practise at my 100 per cent in the weeks before Basel. That is the next tournament for me, so I'll try to make my best in that tournament."

Honing in on where the match was lost, Alcaraz said his game deserted him at the start of the second set.

"Probably I had to start the second set better. I think I made a few mistakes in the first game that I shouldn't do. That is the truth," Alcaraz said. "It was a little bit of a surprise for me as well, the way that he started the second set after let's say a tough first set for him.

"He didn't make up and downs in his game after a really good first set. He started really well the second set, and kept that level, that intensity during the second set and the third set. He didn't let me put my game on the match. I was all the time fighting to find a way to put the match on my own game, but I couldn't. And I think that was the key of the match."

Alcaraz also admitted that Dimitrov appeared to find an extra level in their match.

"I think he played great. He played a great match since the beginning until the last ball. No up and downs in his game," Alcaraz said. "Comparing to the matches that we've played before, he was on another level today. So congratulations to him and I have to be better if I want to beat this Grigor."

Meanwhile, the defeat has also put Novak Djokovic in a strong position to win the battle for ATP Year-End No 1, as the Serbian now leads the race by 500 points with one month to go until the Nitto ATP Finals.

"With this loss, I'm a little bit farther and it's going to be tougher if I want to be No. 1," Alcaraz said. "I have a few tournaments ahead, so I will try to do my best. I will try to win them if I want to have a chance to end the year as No. 1. I don't know, but right now I lost a lot of opportunities to make it."

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