{"id":2064,"date":"2025-03-29T03:02:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T03:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2064"},"modified":"2025-03-29T03:02:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T03:02:41","slug":"djokovic-reaches-miami-open-semis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2064","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic reaches Miami Open semis"},"content":{"rendered":"
Novak Djokovic is two wins away from capturing a 100th career title after beating Sebastian Korda 6-3 7-6(4), and world number one Aryna Sabalenka cruised into her first Miami Open final with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Jasmine Paolini on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Djokovic let out a triumphant roar after sending down an ace on match point as the 37-year-old’s former rival and now coach Andy Murray jumped out of his seat to do the same.<\/p>\n

The Serbian 24-times Grand Slam champion trailed Korda 5-2 in the second set but broke the American as he served at 5-3 and his precise and powerful serving carried him to the finish.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been serving great the entire tournament but particularly today I needed it in the second to try to come back,” Djokovic told Tennis Channel.<\/p>\n

“In the tiebreak, a couple of points really decided the winner, 5-4 service winner, ace at 6-4 to finish off the match. So I’ll take that as the highlight.”<\/p>\n

Victory ensured that Djokovic, who turns 38 in May, became the oldest ATP Masters 1000 semi-finalist, surpassing Roger Federer, who made the final four at Indian Wells and Miami aged 37 years and seven months in 2019.<\/p>\n

The match was originally scheduled for Wednesday but postponed under ATP rules aimed at avoiding matches dragging on into the early hours of the morning.<\/p>\n

Fourth seed Djokovic, gunning for a record seventh Miami Open title, will face 14th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the semi-finals on Friday.<\/p>\n

Unseeded Czech Jakub Mensik was a 7-6(5) 6-1 winner over 17th-seeded Frenchman Arthur Fils and will meet American Taylor Fritz in the semis after he outlasted Italian 29th seed Matteo Berrettini 7-5 6-7(7) 7-5. Third seeded Fritz saw six match points come and go in the second set but converted on his seventh opportunity in the decider to put away Berrettini.<\/p>\n

“There’s two options, get frustrated about it, lose and then be even more frustrated about all the chances I blew, or regroup and get the win,” Fritz said.<\/p>\n

“Now I can sleep tonight.”<\/p>\n

Pegula ends Eala’s run<\/p>\n

On the women’s side, Sabalenka won 77% of her first-serve points, fired down six aces, saved all four break points she faced and converted four of her five break point chances against Italian sixth seed Paolini during the 71-minute match.<\/p>\n

The Belarusian top seed, who resides in South Florida and arrived in Miami fresh off a runner-up finish at Indian Wells, has not dropped a set in her five matches.<\/p>\n

Up next for Sabalenka will be American fourth seed Jessica Pegula, who ended the fairytale run of Philippine wildcard Alexandra Eala 7-6(3) 5-7 6-3.<\/p>\n

“It’s nice to know I can win these big matches in really clutch, pressure moments and come out on top,” said Pegula, who will compete in her sixth WTA 1000 final.<\/p>\n

“One of the people who does it better than me is Aryna. I’m going to have a big battle.”<\/p>\n

Pegula battled back from 2-5 down to win the opening set and was up a break in the second before 19-year-old Eala came back to level the match despite twisting her ankle during a point.<\/p>\n

But Pegula’s experience shone through in the decider and she prevailed in a thriller that finished well past midnight, with the 31-year-old writing, “I’m tired” on a camera lens.<\/p>\n

Eala, who beat three Grand Slam champions during her run, blew kisses to a small crowd that gave her a standing ovation after sharing a warm exchange with Pegula at the net.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic is two wins away from capturing a 100th career title after beating Sebastian Korda 6-3 7-6(4), and world number one Aryna Sabalenka cruised into her first Miami Open final with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Jasmine Paolini on Thursday. Djokovic let out a triumphant roar after sending down an ace on match point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}