Novak Djokovic nears 100th career title in Miami after dominant win over Grigor Dimitrov

Novak Djokovic is closing in on even more rarified air in tennis. The 24-time Grand Slam singles champion's pursuit of his 100th career ATP singles title will continue on Sunday in the final of the Miami Open after he defeated an ailing Grigor Dimitrov in a one-sided Friday semifinals.

The Bulgarian, who needed medical attention after saivng a match point to defeat Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo in a nearly three-hour quarterfinal on Wednesday, battled admirably in his return to the court, but didn't have much to compete with an in-form Djokovic after the opening minutes of the match. Dimitrov broke serve in the first game, but things went south for the 33-year-old in more ways than one from there.

The match was briefly interrupted a short time later as a heckler prodding Dimitrov from the stands was ejected from Hard Rock Stadium, and after the eventful beginning, Djokovic put together a seven-game run from 2-2 in the first set. He eventually extended his overall head-to-head against Dimitrov to 13-1 with a 6-2, 6-3 win in just over an hour, moving through to his 142nd career ATP singles final and 60th at ATP Masters 1000 level.

He'll face Jakub Mensik, who defeated No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz later in the evening in a third-set tiebreak.

"I surprised myself, pleasantly ... in these tricky conditions, very windy, not consistent wind changing all the time, not easy to toss the ball, not easy to find your rhythm from the back of the court," Djokovic told Prakash Amritraj on Tennis Channel after the match.

"Other than the first game ... after that, I just felt I was in the flow, I was playing all the right shots, making him play always an extra shot."

At one stage of the one hour and 10-minute match, Djokovic didn't miss a first serve for 40 consecutive minutes, with Jim Courier on Tennis Channel even asking after Dimitrov's final ball went long if it was the former No. 1's best-ever performance on serve.

With Lionel Messi and Venus Williams among the fans watching on, he landed 87% of the first serves overall, lost just eight points in eight subsequent service games after he was broken to 15 to start, and broke Dimitrov four times.

“As far as my game goes, again, serve was definitely the highlight of the match,” Djokovic also said in his on-court interview. “I’ve been serving really well [during the tournament] and hopefully, I can continue in the same fashion because that definitely makes my life easier on the court.”

Off the ground, Djokovic hit just five unforced errors, as Dimitrov racked up more than 30.

Only two other men have won 100 or more ATP singles titles: Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103). Djokovic will hope to make it a trio when he faces the winner of Friday night's semifinal between No. 3 seed Taylor Frtiz and unseeded Czech teenager Jakub Mensik, the latter of whom is contesting his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.