Novak Djokovic thrilled with 'unbelievable serving' to reach milestone Miami Open semi-final with Sebastian Korda win
Updated 28/03/2025 at 08:03 GMT
Novak Djokovic credited his serving for getting him "out of trouble" as he pipped Roger Federer to become the oldest player to reach an ATP Masters 1000 semi-final. The 37-year-old dispatched Sebastian Korda in the pair's postponed match on Thursday to set up a last-four encounter with Grigor Dimitrov. "As good as one can feel about his serve," he said after the match.
Novak Djokovic
Image credit: Getty Images
Novak Djokovic was delighted with his service game after he fought hard to overcome Sebastian Korda in the quarter-finals of the 2025 Miami Open.
The 37-year-old Serbian beat Korda 6-3 7-6(4) to book his spot in the last four, becoming the oldest player to reach an ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.
Djokovic made 83% of his first serves during the match, which he admitted "got me out of trouble" in a battling victory.
"As good as one can feel about his serve," he said after the match. "Unbelievable serving the whole tournament, I’ve been serving really well.
"Especially today and I needed it because Sebastian in the second set was just making me run and he was playing really well from the back of the court, maybe not making as many errors like in the first set.
"It took some serves to get out of trouble. I was 3-0, 0-30 down, had some good serves and put myself in a position to [break back], which I did.
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"Tie-break could have been anybody’s game, but again, serve got me out of trouble. 5-4, serve winner. 6-4, ace to finish the match.
"I’ll take that as a highlight from the match today."
The pair shared the games in the opening set until Djokovic broke Korda to love in the eighth game, which proved to be the decisive moment in a tight opener.
Korda, 24, fought even closer in the second set and broke the 24-time Grand Slam winner to go two games to the good.
But Djokovic stayed with the American and eventually broke back, before settling the contest via tie-break.
Djokovic will face Grigor Dimitrov on Friday for a spot in the final.
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