Djokovic cruises into Key Biscayne final

The perfectly placed drop shots from Novak Djokovic kept coming, and Andy Murray frantically chased them, once nearly impaling himself on the net post.

Murray avoided injury, and that's the best thing he can say about Friday's semifinal at the Sony Ericsson Open.

With a display of finesse uncommon in a hardcourt match, Djokovic swept the final 11 games and won 6-1, 6-0.

"I expected a difficult match, for sure," Djokovic said. "I'm very happy to win easy like this."

The 19-year-old Serb will bid for his first ATP Masters Series title Sunday when he faces the winner of Friday night's match between qualifier Guillermo Canas and seventh-seeded Ivan Ljubicic.

Serena Williams seeks her fourth Key Biscayne title Saturday against top-ranked Justine Henin, who will play in the final for the first time. Once fierce rivals, the two Grand Slam champions will meet for the first time since the 2003 Wimbledon semifinals.

Each is enjoying a recent resurgence. Henin skipped the Australian Open because she was going through a divorce, and Williams is playing in only her seventh tournament in 18 months.

"We've had some tough matches in the past," Williams said. "It's good to see her on tour again."

Said Henin: "It's great how Serena's back. It's great for the tour. It looks like she's back at her best level."

The 10th-seeded Djokovic is a rising star, with 23 victories this year to tie Murray for the ATP Tour lead. The lanky Serbian wields a big serve and forehand but also has a deft touch, to Murray's dismay.

"I can say I'm an all-around player," Djokovic said. "It's always good to have a game like mine, so I can change the pace and change the rhythm whenever I want."

He won at least 10 points with drop shots _ sliced floaters that landed softly just over the net. The tactic repeatedly drew Murray out of position to scoop the ball back, and Djokovic would then hit into the open court for a winner.

"I've had guys that hit drop shots against me before," Murray said. "But normally when I get to them, I do something creative. Every time today, I hit the ball straight back to him. Every time I got there, he read where it was going, and he won the point."

That was far from Murray's only problem. He lost his final five service games, missing on 59 percent of his first serve, and hit only one winner in the first set.

There were whistles from the crowd when he double-faulted to fall behind 5-0 in the second set, and jeers mixed with applause when he headed for the dressing room after barely an hour.

Was he embarrassed by the drubbing?

"It has happened to better players than me," Murray said. "I guess it's going to happen sometime in your career, and I'd rather it happened earlier, so that you can learn from it. You never want it to happen again. But it's a good humbling experience, and I'll just have to try to improve on my game and get better to make sure it never happens again."

Djokovic beat Murray for the second time in two weeks. When the two 19-year-olds met in the semifinals at Indian Wells, Murray won five games.

That was close in comparison.

The 12th-seeded Murray has been bothered by a sore groin but declined to blame it for his defeat.

"It was the worst match that I've probably played since I've been on the tour," Murray said. "He was much better than me today. So no excuses."

Djokovic, who beat No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, has yet to drop a set in five matches and has lost his serve once in 45 games. He'll rise to at least eighth in the rankings next week, a career best.

"I'm really proud of myself," Djokovic said. "Mentally, I'm really a lot stronger than last year. I knew that it's going to come. I just needed time and experience."