In Friday’s Miami Open semi-final, the Bulgarian faced the 24-time Grand Slam champion for the 14th time in his career.
But the 33-year-old, who left the court exhausted following his quarter-final, could not match Novak Djokovic’s level inside Hard Rock Stadium.
The Serbian will now compete in Sunday’s championship match where he will face 19-year-old Jakub Mensik.
Martina Navratilova assesses Grigor Dimitrov’s loss to Novak Djokovic at the Miami Open
Grigor Dimitrov has only defeated the former World number one once in his career, and that remained the case in Miami.
He began the match in impressive fashion by breaking Djokovic’s serve in the opening game. But the Serbian broke straight back, and proceeded to control the match from that point on.
The former World number one produced a flawless serving performance as he made 87% of his first serves and won 79% of those points as Djokovic cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win.
Following the match, 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova told Sky Sports why she thinks Dimitrov struggles against Djokovic.
“I don’t know what Novak’s record is against one handed backhands but I am pretty sure that it is better than against two handed backhands because he spreads the court so well,” she said.