Djokovic thrashes Dimitrov to draw within one win of 100th title
Novak Djokovic raced past Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets at the Miami Open in Florida on Friday, taking the Serbian tennis player to within one win of his 100th career title.
The 37-year-old came into his 79th ATP Masters 1000 semi-final as a heavy favourite across tennis betting sites, having lost just once to Dimitrov in their 13 previous meetings.
His odds of $1.20 to win at BetOnline shortened even further when he raced through the first set in less than half an hour, hitting just two unforced errors.
Djokovic’s sharp serving – which he praised after his quarter-final win over Sebastian Korda – continued to impress as the fourth seed landed 87% of first serves, winning 79% of points behind it.
In his post-match interview, Djokovic joked that he now knew what it felt like to be John Isner or Reilly Opelka, two renowned servers on the ATP Tour.
“I did not expect myself to top the serving performance of last match, where I had 83%, and I had 87% today,” Djokovic said after the 6-2, 6-3 victory.
“I know how it feels like to be Isner or Opelka, just make most of your first serves.
“I missed I think five or six serves in the whole match.
“So that’s really amazing, amazing standard, really high standard.
“It does help tremendously.
“It just releases that unnecessary pressure from all the other shots in your game.
“Then you can kind of put more pressure on the return games on your opponent.”
Djokovic plays 19-year-old Jakub Mensik in the final of the Miami Open on Sunday, where he will become just the third player in the Open Era to win 100+ titles if he prevails.
Tennis bookmakers have Mensik priced as a heavy underdog, with the Czech teen playing in his first ATP Masters 1000 final after upsetting No.3 seed Taylor Fritz in Friday’s other semi-final.
