Novak Djokovic halts Juan Monaco to reach title-round – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Top seed, Novak Djokovic, ended Juan Monaco’s impressive run with a bagel at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Friday night. He joggled up a 6-0, 7-6(5) victory against the world number 21 to cruise into the final showdown at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000
event taking place in Miami, Florida.
The world number one inched closer to defend his title at Key Biscayne after trashing Monaco in straight sets on their fifth meeting. After this two hours and three-minute epic encounter, Djokovic improved to a 5-0 record in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series
against the Argentinean number two.
"As I did yesterday in the quarter-finals, I started very strong, just going for the shots, being very aggressive," said the ecstatic Serbian. "Then I just wasn't able to close it out... It was [an] exciting match. I didn't expect an easy match and [I'm]
just happy to be through."
Djokovic flashed into the Tennis Center at Crandon Park and after blasting massive groundstrokes, he winded up all six games in a row. The Serb was never threatened with any breakpoint and cashed in three out of six break opportunities to seal the opener
with a bagel.
The high-spirited Serbian kept momentum rolling in the following set. He earned the coveted break in the fifth game and subsequently went 4-2 up.
The 28-year-old Argentinean on the other side of net recovered in the tenth game. He capitalised on one out of eight break chances and dragged the set to a tie-breaker.
"The first set was incredible. He played like the real No. 1. It was tough for me," said the Argentinean after the match. "Then in the second set, I got in on the match, I guess. Started to serve a little bit better [and] believed a little bit in my game.”
In the tie-breaker, the higher ranked proved his class in it and subsequently clinched the set with a 7-6(5) score line.
Overall, Djokovic produced a poor first serve share of 49 per cent but impressively clicked 22 out of 32 points on it.
The 24-year-old is eyeing for his second year-to-date title here. He clinched his fifth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open earlier this season and is in awesome run of form.
Next in line for the defending champion is the British number one, Andy Murray. The Scott reached this spot after the second seed was forced to pull out from the tournament due to a left knee injury.
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