Miami, March 28 (HS): Serbian Novak Djokovic, aiming for his seventh Miami Open title, progressed to the semifinals by defeating American Sebastian Korda 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) on Thursday. The match lasted for one hour and 24 minutes.
This quarterfinal match was supposed to be played on Wednesday night, but it was postponed due to the women's quarterfinal match between Jessica Pegula and Emma Raducanu running past 11 PM. The match was set to start around midnight, which would have been against the new ATP rules.
Djokovic will now face Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals. The 33-year-old Dimitrov, who reached the finals of this tournament in 2024, has a record of 12-1 against Djokovic.
Djokovic previously won all six of his Miami Open titles at the tournament's previous location in Biscayne. This time, he is striving to win his 100th career title.
Djokovic stated, I am receiving tremendous support here. I feel like I have a good chance to win the title. I am performing at my best after a long time.
The audience at Hard Rock Stadium chanted Djokovic's name in support, even though he was playing against an American player. Despite trailing 4-1 and 5-2 in the second set, he secured victory in the tiebreaker. He hit a powerful ace on match point and recorded an impressive 83% first serve percentage against the 24th seed Korda. After the victory, he let out a loud roar and celebrated by mimicking playing a violin with his racket.
Djokovic remarked, If I had to sum up the reason for my victory in one word, it would be – serve. He added, I served really well; this was one of my best serving performances in a long time.
In the first men's quarterfinal, Czech teenager Jakub Mensik defeated France's 17th seed Arthur Fields 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, to secure a spot in his first ATP 1000 points-level semifinal.
The 19-year-old Mensik won the first set in a tiebreaker and then took a commanding 4-0 lead in the second set to overcome the 20-year-old Fields. Ranked 54th, Mensik delivered 13 aces and finished the match in 75 minutes with a crosscourt forehand winner.
Now, Mensik will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between Taylor Fritz and Matteo Berrettini.
Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
