sets 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 to win the Indian Wells Masters. Agassi returned
the favour a couple of weeks later to down Sampras 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 in
the final of the Miami Masters. In the 15 years that followed, Indian
Wells and Miami have failed to produce a pair of co-finalists, but
that changed on Friday night as the two hottest players on the ATP
Tour set up a title clash that promises to thrill as top seed Rafael
Nadal and second seed Novak Djokovic advanced to the final of the Sony
Ericsson Open.
The Super Nova-k that has taken tennis by storm in 2011 continued to
burn brighter than ever before as Djokovic extended his winning run
this season to 23 matches with a 6-3, 6-1 demolition of new American
no.1 Mardy Fish.
Djokovic, who has gone through the entire week at Miami without
dropping his serve, kept that amazing run going as he saved a break
point in the fifth game of the opening set, having come out from a 54
minute rain delay at 2-2 15-30. Unperturbed, the Serb launched into
Fish's next service game, picking up the vital break that allowed him
to close out the opening set. Fish fought bravely, even earning two
break points in the 9th game as Djokovic tried to serve out the set,
but failed to take his chances.
The Djoker then raised his game to a whole new level in the second
set, breaking Fish thrice en route to taking the set 6-1. Fish was
left in complete awe as Novak ran down every shot from the American,
forcing him to win points thrice over, and then showing the offensive
side of his game by stepping in and crushing winners of both wings.
The second semi-final between Nadal and Federer was a long awaited
affair with the two champion players not having squared off against
each other on American soil in over half a decade. Sadly the match
failed to live up to its billing as Nadal was in supreme form while
Federer had an off night.
Federer was ordinary on serve in both sets, dropping it twice in each,
while Nadal was completely impervious in the opening set, losing just
2 points on serve right through. He wrapped up the first set 6-3 in
just over half an hour and though Federer threatened briefly in the
early exchanges of the second set, Nadal staved off a break point and
reaffirmed his supremacy by taking a 2-0 lead. From then on, it was
just a matter of time before the world no.1 sealed an impressive win.
Nadal will take a 16-8 record into the final against Djokovic, but
that means little considering the kind of form Novak is in at the
moment. The one thing the Spaniard will have going for him is that the
match is scheduled for an afternoon start and given the heat and
humidity of Miami it could well turn into a battle of attrition
between two supremely fit athletes.
Semi-finals Scores:
[2] N Djokovic (SRB) d [14] M Fish (USA) 63 61
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d [3] R Federer (SUI) 63 62
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