By DPA,
Miami : Tennis superman Novak Djokovic extended his 2011 unbeaten run to 22 matches as the second seed blew past South African outsider Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-2 Wednesday into the semi-finals at the Miami Masters.
Mardy Fish will take over the top spot in the US tennis men’s pecking order Monday, when he moves ahead of longtime elite Andy Roddick after his quarter-final victory against Spanish sixth seed David Ferrer, 7-5, 6-2.
Serb Djokovic is on the prowl for his fourth trophy of the season after winning the Australian Open, Dubai and Indian Wells this month.
He claimed the Miami hard-court title in 2007 and finished runner-up two years later.
The number two is thick into the fight to surpass Rafael Nadal on the top ATP ranking after overhauling Roger Federer on second with the Indian Wells title.
In the women’s field, 2009 champion Victoria Azarenka beat fatigued second seed Kim Clijsters 6-3, 6-3 to line up in the semis against Russian number three Vera Zvonareva, a winner over Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 6-3.
Australian Open champion Clijsters, who staged a late-night great escape 24 hours earlier against Ana Ivanovic, was unable to repeat her miracle.
“Tonight was going to be very tough, obviously, I just didn’t feel good out there,” Clijsters said. “Mentally, physically, it didn’t feel right. Mentally I didn’t feel like I had any fighting spirit.
“It’s tough against someone like her. Against some lower-ranked players maybe it’s possible to get through matches, but not against somebody like her.”
Azarenka, from Belarus but Arizona-based, won the last of her five titles in the autumn and is not reliving her Miami trophy run of 2009.
“It’s 2011, a completely new year,” said the winner. “I’m really happy with the way I’m playing, really happy on the court. I played a little bit more aggressive, played more forward, tried to come in more.”
American Fish said that despite earning the top American ranking, he can never truly replace Roddick, his former teenaged roommate and longtime friend, who lost an opening match last week in Miami to seal a fall out of the top 10 to the 14-15 ranking range.
Fish has come through without losing a set at the final spring hard-court event, beating Frenchman Richard Gasquet and former top-five Argentine Juan Del Potro along the way.
“With Andy and the career he’s put together, it would be pretty tough to feel I was the number one American,” said the modest Floridian. “He’s won so many more matches, so many more tournaments, so many more Davis Cup matches. So I don’t think I would ever feel like the number one.”