By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Novak Djokovic surged through nine straight games dismissing Lorenzo Musetti 6-2, 6-2 in a dominant Miami Open performance.
Photo credit: Miami Open Facebook
Creativity and chaos can coexist when Novak Djokovic is in full flow.
A clever Djokovic drove dangerous Lorenzo Musetti into disarray on Hard Rock Stadium tonight.
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A dynamic Djokovic surged through nine consecutive games demolishing Musetti 6-2, 6-2 to cruise into his eighth career Miami Open quarterfinal—and first since he captured the 2016 championship.
In front of a festive crowd that included legendary former world No. 1 Serena Williams and 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who sat in the Serbian superstar’s box behind coach Andy Murray, Djokovic got off to a slow start.
The fourth-seeded Djokovic double-faulted away the break in the opening game. Musetti rolled through eight of the first 10 points building a 2-0 lead.
Five games into the match, chair umpire Fergus Murphy, a stickler for enforcing the serve clock, hit Djokovic with a time violation.
An incensed Djokovic proceeded to turn the time violation into crunch time.
Amping up his intensity considerable, an annoyed Djokovic channeled anger into action shredding Musetti with that nine game surge to turn an 0-2 deficit into a 6-2, 3-0 lead.
Transforming Hard Rock Stadium into a suffocating stage, Djokovic was zapping winners nearly at will in some stretches. A ruthless Djokovic beat Musetti with angle and occasionally dosed him with drop shots.
When Musetti held for 1-3 to stop his nine-game slide, he jokingly held his arms toward the sky like Rocky Balboa after running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
That was a brief reprieve for the 16th-ranked Italian, who upset Djokovic at the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters.
Djokovic threw down a love hold for 4-1 and made a phenomenal get on a Musetti lob that seemed to stun his younger opponent who tapped a routine forehand volley into net. Djokovic appeared to point and smile at Serena Williams in the crowd after showing wondrous wheels to track down the lob.
Musetti double faulted to end the one hour, 23-minute match. It was Djokovic's eighth win in nine meetings vs. Musetti and his second Top 20 win of the season after his Australian Open victory over Carlos Alcaraz.
Contesting the Miami Open for the first time since 2019, Djokovic now stands three wins away from a historic 100th career title.
Next up for Djokovic is American Sebastian Korda.
Earlier, Korda fended off 38-year-old Gael Monfils 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 avenging his Indian Wells loss to the flashy Frenchman earlier this month.
It was a wild match that featured suspensions of play due to darkness and later rain.
The decisive set was deadlocked at 1-all when darkness descended over Hard Rock Stadium in the form of a foreboding cloud.
It grew so dim, chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani suspended play at about 1:40 p.m. local time as they waited for the Hard Rock Stadium crew to turn on the lights. As Monfils sat on his court-side seat winding adhesive tape around his finger tips, Korda stood against the back wall ready to go.
After a 13-minute delay to darkness, the final set resumed.
Showing plenty of spring in his 38-year-old legs, Monfils blasted through a two-ace game stamping his third straight love hold for 3-2.
Korda, who had been shaking out his right wrist between points, broke for 4-3 then took an injury timeout for treatment of an apparent right wrist issue.
“With good sportsmanship, the last point will be replayed,” Lahyani told the crowd as players and chair umpire scurried off the court with Korda up 4-3 at about 2:16 p.m. local time when the rains came. That created a near four-hour delay.
When play resumed, Korda closed it out to reach his second Miami Open quarterfinal.