Novak Djokovic produced a tennis master class under the lights on Wednesday evening in the quarter finals of the Sony Ericsson Open to defeat Rafa in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.

Clearly having learnt all his lessons from the defeat he suffered to Rafa in the Indian Wells final, Djokovic brought his A-game to the court and showed few signs of nerves on his way to booking his place in the semi finals.

The atmosphere was electric on Stadium court with the charismatic players being such fan favourites and displaying some excellent tennis right from the start of the match. Both men were pounding the ball and swapped breaks early on before Djokovic broke Rafa again at 3-2. The Serb's attacking play proved just too much for Rafa as he put Rafa's second serve under a lot of pressure, taking the return early and consequently Rafa was only winning 17% of the points when he missed his first serve.

Rafa quickly tightened up, but more unforced errors were coming from his racquet as he struggled to reign his shots in and, as his unforced error total rose to 12 for the set, he was unable to break Djokovic back as the Serb went on to serve out the first set 6-3 with a superb stop volley on set point.

Rafa started the second set well with a good opening service game, but his serve was soon back under the spotlight as he had to fight off three break points in his second service game. Some brave play and big serving did the trick and he managed to hold for 2-1 with Djokovic's level of tennis unrelenting.

With the momentum of coming through that tight game, Rafa then looked as though he might have a chance to turn things round. Some uncharacteristic errors from Djokovic let Rafa back in on his serve and some great defence turned attack helped Rafa present himself with a break point chance, but three terrific points from Djokovic saw him hold serve for 2-2.

Having missed his chance to break serve, Rafa was unfortunately not able to then hold on to his own as some more unforced errors crept in and despite Rafa displaying all his fighting qualities, Djokovic grabbed the break to lead ominously by a set and a break.

Rafa did all he could to make Djokovic earn the match. As the set progressed Rafa tightened up his game, held serve comfortably, and tried everything to claw his way back into contention. The pressure he put on Djokovic so nearly paid off when the 19 year old came to serve for the match, with Rafa having three chances to break due to a mixture of Djokovic errors and great play by Rafa. But Djokovic showed his mettle and his big match mentality, and after having saved the third break point with a big forehand, two aces then sealed victory to put him in the semi final.

It was clear to see that despite his very best efforts, and some superb tennis of his own, Rafa simply lost to the better player on the night who now remains one of the favourites to win the title. Rafa's efforts were warmly applauded off the court and he will now start to gear up for the clay court season which kicks off in Monte Carlo in a couple of week's time. Stay tuned for match reaction from Miami.

Well done on a great effort, Rafa!