Novak Djokovic on Friday moved to within one win of his 100th career title, outclassing Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-3 to cruise into the final of the Miami Open, where he faces Czech teenager Jakub Mensik.
Djokovic, who now has a 13-1 record against the Bulgarian, totally dominated the contest, which was over in 69 minutes.
The Serbian — who at 37 is now the oldest man to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final — is take on a 19-year-old in today’s final after the big-serving Mensik beat world No. 4 Taylor Fritz 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4).
Photo: AFP
The match between Djokovic and his 33-year-old opponent was the oldest semi-final in Masters 1000 history, with a combined age of 70, but it was the older of the pair who dominated.
Djokovic was broken on his first service game, but that was the extent of his difficulties as he maintained his record of never losing in a Miami semi-final.
The serve was once again Djokovic’s strong suit — he made 87 percent of his first serves and hit five aces — but his all-round game was impressive.
Photo: Taipei Times
He heads into the final with a chance to become only the third man after Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) to win 100 titles.
“It was very windy today, very difficult to control the ball, changing direction all the time, but I had good serves and held my nerves,” Djokovic said. “The serve was again the highlight of the match for me. I think it was 84 percent last game and I thought that would be difficult to beat that, but today it was 87 percent, so I don’t know what to say.”
“Hopefully I can continue in the same fashion because that definitely make my life easier,” he added.
Lionel Messi was in the stands to watch the game after training nearby with Inter Miami and Djokovic was delighted to see him.
“It was a huge honor to have King Leo in the stands. It was the first time I have played in front of him,” Djokovic said.
As expected, the contest between Mensik and Fritz was a baseline battle, which was ultimately decided by two tie-breaks won by the Czech.
Fritz ended up in the unusual position of losing despite his serve not being broken — he faced just two break points in the whole game.
“It doesn’t really take the pain away too much. Between the two breakers, like, I have to win one of them. I have to play a little bit better,” the American said. “I think when I’m playing well, when I’m winning matches, it’s kind of just what I do. I pull through these situations. So to just kind of get out-toughed in two breakers, it sucks. I did my job. I didn’t get broken. I didn’t face a break point until the third set, so ... it sucks.”
In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and her Chinese partner Jiang Xinyu were eliminated after a straight-sets loss in the semi-finals.
Wu and Jiang, who have partnered in seven tournaments so far this year, missed the chance to reach their second WTA 1000 final of the year, falling to Russia’s Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider — the silver medalists at last year’s Paris Olympic — 6-0, 7-5.
After dropping the first set in just 20 minutes, the Taiwanese-Chinese duo regrouped to break serve in the opening game of the second game, but the Russians returned the favor to tie the set at 3-3. Each side broke once more to make it 5-5 before Andreeva and Shnaider held serve to take a 6-5 lead and then converted their first match point on their opponents’ serve to complete the victory.
Wu, 25, teamed up with Jiang at the Doha Open in February. They lost in the final, Wu’s best result at a WTA 1000 event.
Additional reporting by CNA
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