Novak Djokovic won 12 of his final 14 matches against Lorenzo Musetti, crushing Italy’s 6-2 6-2 and moving to the Miami Open quarterfinals with his best performance since the Australian Open.
The momentum of the rainy match seemed to sway in Djokovic’s favor when Djokovic complained to the referee on the opening set with serve clock warning.
That frustration seemed to inspire the Serbs. The Serbs beat the next game with a 4-2 lead and didn’t look back in front of a worshipping crowd, including tennis greats Serena Williams and Juan Martin del Potro.
“I was hit by a star. It was amazing to see my first Delpo, obviously a longtime friend and rival. “It was amazing. It was my first time putting Delpo in a box so I really want to thank you for coming. And Serena, that was a surprise.”
Six-time Miami champion Djokovic crushed the exquisite backhand winner with a 5-2 second set lead, sealing the victory when Musetti doubled down at match points.
“In fact, when I had that Down the Line passing shot, I pointed her and asked if it was okay,” he added. “She said, ‘Yeah, that was fine.’ If Serena said it was okay, it was amazing to other people’s standards. ”
Next, the fourth seed Djokovic was American Sebastian Korda, who won 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 over the veteran Frenchman Gaelmonfilz.
Korda lost 24x Grand Slam champion Djokovic from the thrilling three-setters in the only previous meeting in the 2023 Adelaide final.
Argentine Francisco Cerundolo reached the third quarter, with three finalist Casper Ruud 6-4 6-2.
Cerundo faced no break as he slammed the fifth-seeded Norwegian with six aces and 21 winners and set up a meeting with 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
On the women’s side, Italy’s sixth seed Jasmine Paolini saved seven of the eight breakpoints they faced to beat Magdalinet to reach the semi-finals.
Paolini will then face the world number one and first-time Miami semi-finalist Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated China’s Zheng Qinwen 6-2 7-5 in the 2024 Australian Open Finals rematch.
“The fight against her is always tough,” Sabalenka said after extending the head-to-head rate record to 6-0 against Zheng.
“Today, I had to work really hard, especially on that second set, and I am truly proud of the way I handled my emotions.
“Even if something went wrong, I was there and fought for every point.”
Reuters contributed to this story.