World Number 1 Novak Djokovic held off a strong fightback from Spaniard David Ferrer to reach the semi-finals of the Miami Masters on Thursday. The later has recovered from a set and a break down - twice - to force a second-set tie-break, but Serbian Djokovic came through 6-2 7-6 (7-1). David is a great competitor in every sense and I really wanted to get it done in straight sets as physically he is always there, said Djokovic.

The Serbian faces Juan Monaco on Friday after he thrashed Mardy Fish 6-1 6-3. I needed to play well, aggressive, step into the court from the first point and that's what I did, Djokovic added.

I had a fantastic first set and was a break up in the second, twice, serving for the match. Then in some moments I allowed him to take control in the rallies and just waited for him to make an unforced error, which he used wisely and got back into the match. You can always expect that when you're playing David. He's like a wall on the court - gets a lot of balls back, always makes you play an extra shot.

Monaco celebrated his 28th birthday with a crushing win against eighth seed Fish. The 21st seed from Argentina won 71% of points on his first serve as Fish, whose only resistance came with a break in game six of the second set, was beaten in one hour and 22 minutes.

Friday's opening semi-final sees Britain's Andy Murray take on world number two Rafael Nadal at 2000 BST.