Djokovic beats Korda, advances to semifinals in push for 7th Miami Open title

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Novak Djokovic is finding a higher gear in South Florida after a sluggish start to 2025.

Djokovic, gunning for his seventh Miami Open title, dispatched American Sebastian Korda 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) Thursday in one hour, 24 minutes in a quarterfinal match that was postponed from Wednesday night because the women’s quarterfinal between Jessica Pegula and Emma Raducanu ran past 11 p.m. and would have begun at about midnight — against new ATP rules.

Djokovic advanced to Friday’s semifinals and will face Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov. Djokovic is 12-1 against the 33-year-old Dimitrov, who reached the tournament finals in 2024.

Djokovic, who won all six of his titles at the tournament’s previous venue at Key Biscayne, is going for his 100th professional title.

“I’m getting great support,” Djokovic said. “I feel I have a really good chance to go all the way here. ...I’m playing the best I have in some time.”

With the Hard Rock Stadium fans cheering the 37-year-old and chanting his name, Djokovic rallied in the second set from 4-1 and 5-2 down to win in a tiebreaker.

He served an ace on match point and finished with an 83 first-service percentage against the 24th-seeded Korda. The 37-year-old Serbian let out a yell after the victory and strummed his racket like a violin.

“One word — serve," Djokovic said when asked the key to his second-set surge. “I was serving very well — best serving performance in a long time.”

The men’s leader in Grand Slam titles at 24 has been out of form this year, starting with an injury retirement at the Australian Open in January. Earlier this month, Djokovic lost his first match at Indian Wells to Botic van de Zandschulp.

Saturday’s women’s final is set with No. 3 Jessica Pegula facing top seed Aryna Sabalenka. It is also a rematch of the 2024 U.S. Open final, won by Sabalenka.

In the women’s semifinal staged late Thursday, Pegula had to be spectacularly resilient to stop the history-making run of the 19-year-old lefty from the Philippines, Alexandra Eala.

Pegula won in a rollercoaster 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-3 victory in a contest that ended at 12:40 a.m. Friday.

In the two hour, 26 minute match, Eala showed she is a crafty lefty star in the making with drop shots, deft volleys and a big forehand.

The Hard Rock Stadium fans rooted on the player who had taken out major champions Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek previously.

Pegula fought off a set point in the first set. She was twice down a break in the first set forced a tiebreaker and dominated it.

Eala had played forcefully through most of the first set, moving Pegula around and coming to the net at advantageous times to showcase her volley.

But suddenly it turned. Eala served for the first set at 5-3, but at set point, she registered two straight double faults, then made an unforced error on her forehand. She lost eight straight points as Pegula seized control.

In the second set, Eala took a spill and needed a medical timeout to wrap her ankle, trailing 2-1.

Eala, who upset Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals, roared back and got up a break 4-3. Pegula came back and Eala was two points away from losing the match at 5-4 before she hit another high gear to pull out the set.

Eala’s service speed had dropped to the 70’s in the second set — which seemed to frustrate Pegula.

In the first women’s semifinal, Sabalenka routed sixth-seeded Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2 in 71 minutes.

Paolini, the 2024 French Open finalist, spent some of the afternoon smirking at Sabalenka’s deft shot-making.

The Belarusian hasn’t dropped a set so far. “I think I was so focused and everything went smoothly,’’ Sabalenka said.

In the day’s first men’s quarterfinal, unseeded teenager Jakub Mensik beat 17th-seeded Arthur Fils 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. The 19-year-old Mensik advanced to his first semifinal at an ATP 1000-point level event.

The 54th-ranked Mensik, of the Czech Republic, will face on Friday third-seeded American Taylor Fritz, who squeaked out a three-set marathon Thursday night over No. 29 Matteo Berrettini 7-5, 6-7 (9-7), 7-5

Fritz squandered six match points in the second set against the Italian, including in the tiebreaker, but survived in the third set to make his first Miami Open finals. The match lasted two hours, 44 minutes. “Now I can sleep tonight and not worry about the chances I blew,’’ said Fritz, who lives in Miami. “You have two options – one of them is to regroup.’’

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