It was not easy, but Novak Djokovic booked a place in another Masters 1000 title match by beating David Goffin 7-6(5), 6-4 in the Miami Open semifinals on Friday afternoon. Djokovic improved to 27-1 on the year (his only loss has come via retirement) after two hours and five minutes of play.
Contesting his second consecutive Masters 1000 semifinal, having went the same distance in Indian Wells, Goffin got off to a roaring start. The 15th-ranked Belgian survived a marathon service game at 2-3, saving a pair of break points, after which he broke Djokovic for an unexpected 4-3 advantage. But the top-seeded Serb broke right back for 4-4 and never looked back.
Djokovic could not consolidate a mini-break that had come at 4-3 in the tiebreaker, but he regained the upper hand with another one at 5-4 before closing out the ‘breaker at 6-5. A more straightforward second set saw the world No. 1 use a single break at 3-3 to seal the deal.
“I was aware of the level that he raised his game in last couple of months,” Djokovic said of Goffin. “And the fact that he played the first semifinals of a Masters 1000 event in his career in Indian Wells gave him–obviously–confidence coming into today’s match. I knew he [was] going to try to take his chances; going to try to be aggressive.
“It was evident that we both struggled with conditions today, especially after a tough start that…I think three games went 15 minutes and then the whole first set lasted for (an) hour and 15 minutes. Physically (it was) a great battle; lots of exchanges from the baseline.”
“With Novak you have a lot of balls to hit, and sometimes you’re feeling better game after game,” Goffin explained. “Yeah, that’s why I was feeling good on my baseline, so maybe that’s why it was a good match and it wasn’t scary [going up] against Novak.”
In the nightcap, Kei Nishikori had no fear against a confident Nick Kyrgios. Thanks to controlled but aggressive performance, the Japanese star quieted the 20-year-old Australian 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 24 minutes.
Nishikori gave back a break midway through the second set with a double-fault, but that was the only time he dropped serve. The world No. 6 made up for it by breaking Kyrgios at 6-5. He converted his second match point with a lunging forehand volley at the end of an entertaining rally.
“It was tough straight from the get-go,” Kyrgios assessed. “I had pretty much one easy service game, and that was the first game. He’s just playing such good tennis. When he plays me, he plays so aggressive; doesn’t let me dictate points.”
Photos courtesy of Miami Tennis News
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I’m feeling Nole in two with at least one breaker probably a similar score to Goffin match. I hope this match is closer though and I would kill to see Nishikori get a win here.
Djoker in 2 of course.
They could do with a good final. Apart from a handful of close matches for the most part the men’s singles have been pretty mundane. Thanks to the in-depth TennisTV coverage we have been able to follow the men’s doubles and the WTA matches – both of which have often been more engrossing.
Congratulations to the French duo (Mahut and PHH) for winning Indian Welsl and Miami back to back against some stiff competition.