Djokovic becomes oldest player to reach Masters 1000 semi-finals

Novak Djokovic defeated Sebastian Korda 6-3, 7-6(4) in the Miami Open quarter-finals on the morning of March 28. The Serbian player’s next opponent is Grigor Dimitrov.

Novak Djokovic is on his way to winning his 7th Miami Open title and his 100th career title. The Serbian defeated Sebastian Korda 6-3, 7-6(4) in the quarter-final match that was postponed from yesterday and moved to the early morning of today (March 28).

At 37 years and 10 months, Djokovic became the oldest player to reach an ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, surpassing Roger Federer’s record. Federer previously reached the semi-finals at Indian Wells and Miami at the age of 37 years and 7 months in 2019.

Djokovic was near perfect on serve in the opening set, dropping just one point on his first serve, and he hit his shots with precision. The fourth seed closed out the first set in impressive fashion, winning the final 12 points. Djokovic saw 12 of his 22 serves unanswered in the set and finished the 1 hour 22 minute match winning 84% of his first serve points.

“I feel really good about my serve. It’s unbelievable to serve the whole tournament, I’ve been serving really well. Especially today, I needed that because Korda in the second set made me move a lot and he played really well from the back of the court,” Djokovic said.

Korda led 3-0 in the second set and had a chance to win it when he served for it at 5-3. However, Djokovic stepped up his game, engaging in longer rallies and forcing Korda into errors. Djokovic saved the day with a strong serve and won the tie-break.

“It took a few serves to get me out of trouble. I was down 0-3, 0-30, I served well to get myself in position to come back and I did. The tie-break could have been anyone’s game, but again, my serve got me out of trouble. At 5-4, I served for it. At 6-4, I served for it to end the match. I’ll take that as the highlight of the match today,” Djokovic added.

Djokovic currently leads Korda 2-0 in the head-to-head series. Their previous meeting came in the 2023 Adelaide final, where Djokovic came back to win after Korda held championship point.

Ranked No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Djokovic improved his record to 48-7 at the hard-court event . He is just two wins away from a seventh title in Miami, and his first since 2016, as he looks to break Andre Agassi’s record for most titles at an ATP Masters 1000 event.

Djokovic will face 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals. Djokovic leads Dimitrov 12-1 in the head-to-head series. He is 20-1 in Miami after reaching the quarterfinals, with his only loss coming to current coach Andy Murray in the 2009 final.