Djokovic Holds Off Thiem In Miami

Dominic Thiem pushed the World No. 1 on Tuesday, but the number 14 will haunt the 22-year-old from their fourth-round match. That was the number of break points Djokovic erased during their two-hour contest at the Miami Open on Tuesday.

The five-time Miami champion didn’t produce his best tennis but was as clutch on the biggest points and won a laborious contest 6-3, 6-4 against the No. 14 seed at Crandon Park.

Djokovic will face No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals. The Serb holds a 22-2 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry and has won their past nine matches.

He and Thiem’s fourth-round match lived up to its billing: The co-win leaders on the ATP World Tour this season facing off, an up-and-coming and confident star, Thiem, going against the World No. 1, who’s bidding for a sixth Miami title.

Djokovic gained the early advantage. He broke the Austrian during his first service game and fended off break point after break point to hold throughout the set.

It was never easy for Djokovic, though. He hit only six winners to 34 unforced errors. And he had to work to hold serve. Djokovic played 102 points on his serve while Thiem played 59 on his.

In the second set, Djokovic again earned an early break and looked to be in control of the match. At 3-2, though, Thiem finally broke Djokovic to tie the set when the Serb threw in a double fault, one of nine he committed during the match. But Djokovic quickly broke back to restore his lead.

Leading 5-4, he held off Thiem a few more times to win a 15-minute game and the match.