|
 Djokovic did not face the difficulty that he had in his fourth
round match, when he was forced to fend off 14-of-15 break points,
while he also attacked Berdych's second serve to advance to a clash
with Belgium's David Goffin after 99 minutes.
Goffin beat France's Gilles Simon 3-6 6-2 6-1 in the day's other
quarter-final.
Djokovic's triumph over Berdych continued a trend of domination with
the Serb clocking up his 10th consecutive victory over the Czech.
"Obviously it does have a certain effect," Djokovic told reporters
of the lopsided record. "Maybe (it) factors in the mental side
coming into the match."
Berdych was coming off a marathon win against Richard Gasquet on
Tuesday and did not have enough left to challenge Djokovic. He won
just six of his 23 second service points and was broken four times.
 The match began with Berdych nearly breaking Djokovic's opening
service game and then successfully stealing the third game but he
quickly lost momentum en route to committing 45 unforced errors.
Djokovic improved to 26-1 this year with his only defeat coming in
February, when he was forced to retire against Spain's Feliciano
Lopez in Dubai due to an eye infection.
Injuries seem to be the only force capable of stopping the Serb at
the moment and although Djokovic called a medial timeout for a back
ailment in the middle of the second set, he quickly shook it off to
win three of the last four games.
[to top of second column] |
He has yet to drop a set in Miami, despite his issues with Austria's
Dominic Thiem in the fourth round.
"If I may say, I do feel better this year than I had felt last year
at the very same stage of the season," he said. "That definitely
satisfies me, and I'm hoping I can continue on and keep the same
trajectory."
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Greg
Stutchbury/John O'Brien)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
