Djokovic Breezes Past Berdych in Miami
Novak Djokovic once again showed his dominance over Tomas Berdych on Wednesday, downing the Czech for the 10th consecutive time, a 6-3, 6-3 triumph, to reach the Miami Open semifinals. Djokovic is now 23-2 all-time against Berdych.
Berdych simply did not play the type of tennis necessary to take down Djokovic. While he tried to hit winners and stay out of rallies with Djokovic, he was unable to, committing 45 unforced errors to just 15 winners.
The Czech’s serve failed him as well. He had five double faults, and won just 6 out of the 23 points on his second serve as Djokovic pounced on every opportunity.
“I think that this was, overall, from the first point to the last, the best match I’ve played of the tournament,” said Djokovic. “It comes at the right stage of the event for me.”
In the semifinals, the world number one from Serbia will take on Belgian David Goffin. The 15th seed came back from a set down to beat 18th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in his quarterfinal match on Wednesday.
“The first set was tough because it was a good set with a good level. Gilles was really solid on his baseline, but I didn’t serve really well in the first set. I didn’t get any free points with my serve so it was tough,” said Goffin. “I had so many opportunities to come back in the set. I didn’t take my opportunities to come back. I knew that the level was there and I had to keep going like this, just to stay more focused on some shots to finish points. Maybe just be more precise, because I knew that I was feeling really good.”
Djokovic is 3-0 all-time against Goffin.
Thursday will play host to the other two quarterfinals in Miami, as Kei Nishikori takes on Gael Monfils, while Nick Kyrgios will play Milos Raonic.
