Novak Djokovic and John Isner will be squaring off in a second consecutive Masters 1000 event when they meet again on Friday in Miami. Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych are also aiming for a place in the title match.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (22) John Isner
Djokovic and Isner will be facing each other for the ninth time in their careers and for the second time in as many tournaments when they collide again in the semifinals of the Miami Open on Friday night. A 6-4, 7-6(5) win in a high-quality Indian Wells battle extended Djokoic’s lead in the head-to-head series to 6-2. Not surprisingly, both of Isner’s victories have come at home in the United States. He prevailed 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(5) in the 2012 Indian Wells semis before pulling off a 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5 upset in the 2013 Cincinnati quarters.
The world No. 24 is suddenly on fire after a dreadful beginning of the season. He reached the fourth round in the desert and played great in a loss to Djokovic. Isner has been even better this fortnight, with straight-set defeats of Andrey Rublev, Grigor Dimitrov, and Kei Nishikori sandwiched around 6-7(3), 7-6(6), 7-6(5) triumph over Milos Raonic. Djokovic has trailed multiple times at this event but has managed to scrape past Martin Klizan, Steve Darcis, Alexandr Dolgopolov, and David Ferrer. The top-ranked Serb has the benefit of having seen Isner’s serve so many times before, whereas Nishikori had never faced Isner prior to Thursday. Isner is a dangerous matchup for anyone anywhere right now, but it is tough to pick against Djokovic on a medium-paced hard court under any circumstances.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
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(3) Andy Murray vs. (8) Tomas Berdych
Familiar foes will also be clashing in the first match of the day, as Murray and Berdych have squared off on 11 previous occasions. They did not meet a single time in 2014, but this will already be their second encounter of this year. A contentious semifinal at the Australian Open saw Murray get the job done 6-7(6), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5. Still, the fourth-ranked Scot trails the head-to-head series 6-5, but he has defeated Berdych five times in eight tries on either hard courts or carpet.
Murray is once again performing admirably in Miami with wins over Donald Young, Santiago Giraldo, Kevin Anderson, and Dominic Thiem. At the same time, his up-and-down tennis in 2015 has continued in the form of sets dropped to Anderson and Thiem. Berdych is on his second life this fortnight after saving four match points against Bernard Tomic. Following that scare, he completely controlled play against Gael Monfils (who retired in their second set) and Juan Monaco. The afternoon slot is exactly what Berdych wants, just as Isner would prefer it against Djokovic. Balls will be flying fast and bouncing relatively high, which is a favorable combination that can help the eighth-seeded Czech take rips in his strike zone and hit through the court.
Pick: Berdych in 3
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So glad that the Big Dawg is playing great tennis again…still won’t be enough to beat Joker…and I like Berdych over Murray in 3.
Glad to see Muzz has finally leveled up the H2H with the Big Bird. Now 6-6 … exactly the same as the current H2H between Muzz and Nole when they’ve met in finals 😉
Alex,
Nice to see you here again! Your guy is playing much better this year. Now I would like to see him make it a tough match against Novak in the final.
Hey NNY, great to see you:-) I’m sure this one will be tight as it nearly always is. Muzz’s 3rd set capitulation in Oz was most unusual. I’m more confident than I’ve been for some while of muzz winning this one, maybe even in 2 sets:-)