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.
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The world number one was too strong for Nadal, who was seeking his first ATP Tour hard-court title in two years, winning 6-1 6-2 in an hour and 13 minutes.
The Serbian lifted three of the four Grand Slam titles, and even in the one he didn’t win he still reached the final, ending Nadal’s domination of the French Open along the way.
Djokovic recovered from a break deficit in a third consecutive set en route to a 6-3, 7-6(3) defeat of Berdych.
Nevertheless, the 14-time Grand Slam champion wouldn’t predict when he’d win another Grand Slam title. The Khalifa Complex was filled with anticipation in air, with the crowd hoping they would get to see a classic contest between two of the greatest tennis stars.
“He played so insane with awesome shots”, Nadal said of Kuznetsov via USA Today. “You never know how these things go”. Nadal, meanwhile, is the reigning doubles champion, having taken the title past year with partner Juan Monaco of Argentina.
Nadal was playing in his 99th career final.
Nadal won 100 per cent of all his first service points in the first set, 89 per cent overall and gave up only one break point, which he held.
Nadal took until the fourth game to get on the scoreboard but it proved only a brief respite as Djokovic breezed through the first set in 30 minutes.
“It’s true that I missed my serve more than I wanted to, but I really only played one bad game, at 4-3 in the second set”, Nadal told ATP’s official website.
WITH the birth of his first child just a few weeks – and more than 10,000 miles – away, Andy Murray may be checking his phone a little more often than usual but he headed to Melbourne yesterday with a growing feeling of confidence that this could be his year at the Australian Open.
The moment hardly had an impact on the calm composure of Djokovic, who won the next game to go 5-1 up. Another rally in the fifth game resulted in another break in favour of Djokovic and he was already 4-1 up.
If there is one doubt he takes from Doha though is that he has a niggling arm injury, which he admits he has received treatment for, but downplayed its importance on Saturday.
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By holding off Dimitrov, who is 10 years his junior, Federer set up a meeting with 22-year-old Dominic Thiem, the youngest player in the top 20.
