Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were yesterday preparing to meet for the 47th time and play their 24th final against each other after both won their Qatar Open semi-finals on Friday.
World No. 1 Djokovic progressed through to the final after overcoming Tomas Berdych in a bruising encounter, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
Earlier on Friday, Nadal also won in two sets, but in a more straightforward fashion, beating Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko 6-3, 6-4 in little over an hour.
Photo: AFP
“I guess it’s a pretty important match … let’s see what happens,” Djokovic said. “It’s a final so you fight for the trophy. And knowing that across the net you have the player that you played against the most ever in your career adds more importance to that final.”
Yesterday’s final was set to reignite one of the greatest rivalries of modern tennis.
Of the 23 finals they have contested so far, Djokovic has a slight advantage winning 13. They have faced each other in the final of all four Grand Slams.
Photo: AFP
The Qatar Open final was also the 99th of Nadal’s career and Djokovic’s 16th consecutive ATP final.
Head-to-head in all matches, the pair have each won 23.
Djokovic was made to work for his victory by third-seeded Berdych and a lesser player might have succumbed to the Czech.
The Serb, who had beaten Berdych in 21 of their previous 23 encounters, lost his very first serve and then faced another break point to go 1-4 down.
However, he held his serve and then won the next four games in typical fashion to take the first set.
Any notion that Berdych might then roll over in the second set soon faded as the pair held serve throughout, treating fans to high quality tennis throughout.
Djokovic, though, was relentless in the tie-break, breaking Berdych’s first serve and ended up winning the decider 7/3.
It means Djokovic is still to drop a set all week in four matches.
Afterwards he said he had a slight concern over an arm injury which has required attention from a physiotherapist, but added that he did not think “it is a major concern.”
Nadal, meanwhile, showed he could be returning to his best with his most impressive performance of the week, winning 6-3, 6-4 against Marchenko.
“To be back in a final is always a great feeling, especially the first week of the season,” the Spaniard said. “For sure [it] is important for me for my confidence, confirm that the end of the 2015 season had been something realistic and this beginning of 2016 I am still playing well, so I am able to already win four matches here and be in the final.”
Nadal’s serve dominated throughout against a player who had knocked out the reigning champion and No. 4 seed David Ferrer in round one.
Nadal won 100 percent of all his first service points in the first set, 89 per cent overall and gave up only one break point, which he held.
He also fired down six aces and hit 16 winners.
Marchenko, the world No. 94, was by no means disgraced in his first ever match against Nadal.
Prior to this tournament, he had never taken a set off a top 10 player, but as well as beating Ferrer, the amiable Ukrainian also saw off France’s Jeremy Chardy and Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili, both well above him in the rankings.
He might be consoled by one of the biggest pay days of his career; US$57,380.
CHENNAI OPEN
AP, CHENNAI, India
Stan Wawrinka on Friday advanced to the semi-finals of the Chennai Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win over fifth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.
The top-seeded Swiss, a two-time defending champion, fired 14 aces to set up a clash with third-seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire.
Paire also served 14 aces as he defeated Thomas Fabbiano of Italy 6-4, 7-5.
Wawrinka broke serve in the third game, but allowed his opponent to break back in the eighth with four unforced errors. Wawrinka again went a break up in the ninth before wrapping up the first set.
In the second set, Wawrinka broke in the seventh game and went on to complete his seventh win in 10 matches against Garcia-Lopez.
“He’s a tough player to beat, we’ve played so many times,” Wawrinka said. “I played well and was putting a lot of pressure on him. I served good and was moving well. It was a solid match [for me], but I’m prepared for a tough match against Paire.”
Last year’s finalist Aljaz Bedene of Britain and Borna Coric of Croatia were set to play in the other semi-final.
Bedene saved all three break points in a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 win over India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan.
Eighth-seeded Coric defeated fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1) in the longest quarter-final that stretched to 2 hours and 31 minutes.
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