After a 32-minute first set utterly dominated by Novak Djokovic, one might've expected David Ferrer to cry uncle, or el tio, the Spanish equivalent. But Ferrer, the little engine that could of men's tennis, turned a match that looked like a Djokovic steamroll into an absolute dogfight. The fifth-ranked Spaniard broke Djokovic twice in the second set, once when he was serving for the match, and if not for two crucial Ferrer mistakes in the tiebreaker, he might've pushed Djokovic to a third. Instead, the world No. 1 cruised through the breaker, 7-1, to capture the second set and the match, 6-2, 7-6 (1).
Djokovic is now 18-2 on the season, and he struck the ball as well tonight as he did when he took down another Spaniard, Rafael Nadal, in the Australian Open final. Twice in the opening three games, Djokovic made Spiderman-like gets off Ferrer drop volleys and came up with backhand and lob winners. The Serb won six of his seven forays to the net and dropped only three points on serve in the first set.
But Ferrer, like Nadal, is not one discouraged easily. At 5-foot-9, he was giving up a half-foot to the 6-foot-3 Djokovic, but after being broken for the third time in the match by Djokovic to open the second set, Ferrer started to cut Djokovic's legs out from under him. After a 33-shot rally in Djokovic's opening service game, the Serb reached for his left ankle in pain and exhaustion. It would not be the only time after a brutal, east-to-west rally that Djokovic would grimace. After Ferrer broke Djokovic, he backed up the break with four great serves to go up 2-1, the feisty Spaniard's first lead in the match.
Djokovic saved another break point on his next service game to even the score at 2-2, but his cheeks started to look more hollow than usual. Ferrer won the next game at love on his serve, and then at love-30, he had Djokovic walking like a defeated man. Ferrer's grunt sounds like a dagger, and it appeared to be sticking out of the Serb's heart. The defending champion's body language looked like he was ready to cave in under Ferrer's unrelenting baseline barrage, but instead Djokovic won four straight points to even the set score at 3-all. Two games later, Djokovic redirected a Ferrer serve to the ad court down the line for a winner and then promptly broke serve.
Serving for the match at 5-4, Djokovic looked like he had weathered the storm. But just like Nadal against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last night, Djokovic was broken when leading 6-2, 5-4. Ferrer, after another long, grueling rally, chased down a Djokovic drop volley and then smashed an overhead winner for the break. He seemingly had all the momentum, and in going up 6-5 with a hold, the Spaniard reduced Djokovic to stumbling, heaving and reaching for his left ankle again. The skid marks on the court from Djokovic looked like lines in the sand that Ferrer was crossing out.
But Ferrer still needed to win a tiebreaker to extend the match. Djokovic took advantage of his opponent's indecision to go up 3-0, and at 1-4, Ferrer made his second crucial mistake, challenging a shot on the baseline that was called in. Hawk-Eye showed the ball catching the line, and finally, the air seemed to seep out of the Spaniard. Djokovic closed Ferrer out, with the second set taking nearly three times as long as the first set; 81-minutes of brutal, wind-sucking, dynamic ball-striking.
Next up for Djokovic is another night match, a semifinal against Juan Monaco, who surprisingly decimated Mardy Fish earlier today, 6-3, 6-1. In pro-Argentine Miami, Monaco has a puncher's chance against Djokovic, even though the No. 21 seed is 0-4 against the top seed.
Dan Markowitz is writing a book about the 2012 season titled "Chasing The GOAT: Roger, Rafa & Nole"