Two hours before the Miami Open semifinal, Novak Djokovic practised his returns in an empty stadium, the ball coming at him quickly because his hitting partner stood three feet inside the baseline to emulate big-serving John Isner.
The drill helped. Djokovic achieved a breakthrough service break against Isner and won their semi-final on Saturday (AEDT) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.
"He's probably the best server we have in the game," Djokovic said.
"But I managed to get a lot of serves back. That was one of the keys in the match, making him play and getting into the rally and making him work extra."
The No.1-seeded Djokovic closed to within one win of his fifth Miami Open title. His opponent on Sunday will be two-time champion Andy Murray, who defeated Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-4.
Djokovic became the first player in the tournament to break Isner and managed another break two games later. He actually outserved the 6-foot-10 American, totalling 10 aces to nine for Isner and never faced a break point.
Djokovic won the Miami title in 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2014.
Murray lost his first service game in each set but recovered and moved closer to his third Miami Open title by beating Berdych. Murray won the championship in 2009 and 2013, and was the runner-up in 2012.
The Scotsman has a home in Miami and practices on the tournament's courts.
"I've obviously played some good tennis here over the years," Murray said.
"The reason for that is because I'm extremely familiar with the conditions, with the surface, the way the court plays."
Aside from his two shaky service games, the No.3-seeded Murray played almost flawless tennis against No.8 Berdych, extending points with scrambling defence until the Czech would finally make a mistake.
Murray, by contrast, totalled only eight unforced errors from the baseline. He improvised, too, winning points with unorthodox strokes requiring compound adjectives, such as a running shoetop-scoop lob and an underhand-swipe backhand drop shot.
"I just played a bit better than him. That was the difference," Murray said.
"When I was behind in games, like the last game, for example, I came up with some big serves and was able to dictate a lot of the rallies from the baseline."
The final is Murray's first since he was runner-up to Djokovic at the Australian Open and his first in two years at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament. He's 9-3 in Masters 1000 finals.
Murray improved to 6-6 against Berdych and has won their past two matches.
"Andy changed the game plan a bit," Berdych said. "He started to play much more aggressive in the last two matches that he played me. Now I know what to expect and I'll just be more ready for it."
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