Tennis-Djokovic reaches Miami Open final, 100th career title in sight

(Reuters) -Novak Djokovic is one victory away from a 100th career singles title after breezing past Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 6-3 on Friday to reach the Miami Open final, where he will face either third seed Taylor Fritz or rising Czech Jakub Mensik.

After being broken to start the match, Djokovic quickly settled in, breaking back in the next game and again for a 4-2 advantage on a mis-hit forehand by 14th seed Dimitrov.

The Serbian pocketed the first set when the Bulgarian's volley sailed long and he maintained the momentum in the second to race to a 3-0 lead.

Djokovic pounded an unreturnable serve on his second match point to improve to a 13-1 career record against Dimitrov.

The fourth seed's serving masterclass in South Florida showed no sign of letting up in the semi-final. He missed just six first serves while pounding five aces to one double fault.

"After that first game, where I don't think I did anything wrong he just played a phenomenal game to break my serve, I just felt I was in the flow," Djokovic told the Tennis Channel.

"I was playing all the right shots, making him play an extra shot ... overall another great straight-sets win to put myself in a fantastic position to fight for a trophy in two days'."

Djokovic has played 307 ATP Tour-level tournaments in his storied career and triumphed in 99 of them. Of the 76 Grand Slams he has entered, the Serbian has won a men's record 24.

American Jimmy Connors won 109 singles titles during the Open Era while Swiss great Roger Federer captured 103.

Djokovic, who has used his racket to mimic playing the violin after each of his five victories in Miami, is playing sweet music on the court right now, and is in his best form since capturing gold at the Paris Games last summer.

"When I play like this, everything is enjoyable and I forget about the age and I forget about the struggles," he said.

"I've been enjoying myself," he added. "I haven't played in Miami in six years and the love and support I've received over the last 10 days here has been really special.

"I'm very grateful. I did not expect so much support and I've been riding that wave. I've been trying to use that in my favor."

Djokovic will be the favorite in Sunday's final to win a seventh Miami Open crown, which would break his tie with Andre Agassi for most titles at the Masters 1000 event.

Inter Miami's star player Lionel Messi was among those at Hard Rock Stadium to watch 37-year-old Djokovic, who is widely considered the greatest men's player of all time.

"Amazing to have him, a great honor," he said of Messi. "I admire him as most of the world for most of his career so it's amazing that he keeps going. We're the same age, born in '87, so it's quite nice to have him around."

(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris and Gerry Doyle)