Six years ago, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal met in the Indian Wells semi-final. The twogreat rivals forged the first Masters 1000 semi-final with a combined age of 70 years! On Friday, Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov smashed their record!
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The 37-year-old Djokovic and 33-year-old Grigor Dimitrov embraced a combined age of 71,73 years, forging the oldest semi-final in Masters 1000 history. Novak ousted his great friend 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 10 minutes en route to the title clash.
Two days earlier, Dimitrov saved a match point against Francisco Cerundolo and prevailed after a massive battle. It left him with nothing in his tank for the six-time Miami Open winner. Interestingly, Grigor kicked off the action with a break before Novak took charge and sailed over the top.
Djokovic made almost all of his first serves and provided eight routine holds after that initial break he experienced. The Bulgarian struggled to follow that pace. He gave away half of the points in his games and suffered four breaks from six chances offered to his rival.
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Novak hit ten winners and five unforced errors, reducing his pace and welcoming over 30 unforced mistakes from the other side. Grigor hit fewer service winners and erased that deficit at the net. However, the Serb forged a 34-14 lead from the baseline.
Djokovic was off to a slow start, missing a backhand in the first game and losing serve at 15. The more experienced player pulled the break back at love in game two and moved in front with a forehand winner on his serve at 1-1.
Novak held at love in the fifth game and made a push on the return in the next one. Grigor hit a wayward forehand to drop serve and find himself 4-2 behind. The six-time winner secured the seventh game with a service winner and stepped in on the return at 5-2.
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Dimitrov faced a set point after a forced error and placed a volley long to drop serve for the third time and allow Djokovic to wrap up the first part of the duel 6-2 in 32 minutes. Novak controlled the scoreboard in his games in the second set.
Grigor missed a forehand in the second game and offered his rival two break chances. The Bulgarian sprayed a forehand error to lose serve and find himself in a challenging position. Djokovic cemented the advantage with a hold in game three, rattling off seven games.
Grigor reduced the gap with abehind-the-back volley winner in the fourth game. Novak caused the rival's mistake in the fifth game and opened a 4-1 gap. The Serb provided another fine hold in game seven, keeping the strings in his hands and pressuring his opponent.
Dimitrov faced a match point on serve in game eight after missing a backhand. He saved it with a service winner and held for 3-5 and more action. Djokovic served for a place in the final in game nine and fired two service winners at 30-30 to emerge at the top in style.
