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SPORTSWednesday 30 March 2016
Djokovic reaches quarterfinals at Miami Open, 6-3, 6-4
TIM REYNOLDS Timea Bacsinszky, of Switzerland, returns to Simona Halep during their match at the Miami Open year.
AP Sports Writer tennis tournament, Tuesday, March 29, 2016, in Key Biscayne, Fla. Bacsinszky won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Thiem nearly broke Djokov-
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) ic to get to 5-4 in the first,
— Novak Djokovic rolled Associated Press. before a review showed
his eyes after a backhand that the backhand that
found the net, shrugged 141 mph, recorded 11 of looked like a winner ac-
after an early barrage of the match’s first 16 winners tually sailed a tad long.
errors, double-faulted eight and twice got games on Djokovic hopped from his
times and even heard the Djokovic’s serve to last 10 seat — he was already in
crowd at times pulling for minutes before the world changeover mode — and
his opponent. No. 1 would ultimately pre- took advantage, winning
None of it wound up mat- vail. Perhaps it shouldn’t to finish off the opening
tering. Even when not at his have been surprising, since set. He double-faulted to
sharpest, Djokovic is nearly he and Djokovic came into give Thiem a break and
impossible to beat. the day leading the tour knot the second set at 3-3,
Looking for his fifth title on with 24 wins apiece this but broke right back and
Key Biscayne in six years, eventually closed out the
the world’s top player win.
reached the quarterfinals “He’s still very young,”
Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-4 win Djokovic said of Thiem,
over 14th-seeded Dominic 22, the youngest player
Thiem of Austria. Djokovic ranked in the top 20. “He’s
will meet seventh-seeded been playing some of his
Tomas Berdych — who best tennis the last couple
grinded out a three-set win of months. We’ll definitely
over 10th-seeded Richard see a lot of him in the fu-
Gasquet of France — in ture.”
the Miami Open semifinals. Berdych needed nearly 2
“It was far from easy,” 1/2 hours to win 6-4, 3-6,
Djokovic said. “I struggled 7-5, with the tempera-
a lot.” ture reaching the mid-80s
Djokovic moved to 25-1 on and the humidity making
the year, 27-1 in his last 28 it seem much warmer on
matches on Key Biscayne. the court. A slew of upsets
The Serbian star also knocked out most of the
moved a step closer to be- tournament’s top seeds,
coming the tournament’s although Berdych hasn’t
first back-to-back-to-back seen his side of the draw
winner since Andre Agassi open up much with all that
in 2001, 2002 and 2003. star power going home
He fended off 14 of the 15 early. And now Djokovic
break points he faced and awaits him.“I’m just go-
hasn’t dropped a set so far ing to try and focus on my
in the tournament. game, try to play some
Thiem was no pushover, good tennis, stick with the
and seemed the farthest things that are working well
thing from intimidated. so far for me and just try to
He cranked his serve up to go for it no matter who’s
going to be the oppo-
nent,” Berdych said.
Gilles Simon easily reached
the men’s quarterfinals,
needing only 58 minutes to
beat fellow Frenchman Lu-
cas Pouille 6-0, 6-1. No. 12
seed Milos Raonic of Can-
ada, No. 15 David Goffin
of Belgium and No. 24 Nick
Kyrgios of Australia also
advanced to the quarters
with straight-set victories.
