Speaking after his destruction of Rafael Nadal at the Qatar Open on Saturday – with both players saying afterwards that the Serb played flawless tennis – the world number one said he “expected” to play at the same level at this year’s first Grand Slam.
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Djokovic, who leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 21-2, won their two matches at the BNP Paribas Masters and ATP World Tour Finals in November.
Djokovic and Nadal will go head-to-head for the 47th time in their career in Doha, with 23 of those previous matches coming in finals. Djokovic hasn’t lost a tournament since last August.
Saturday’s final will also be the 99th of Nadal’s career and Djokovic’s 16th consecutive ATP final.
The tall Serbian now has 60 career title wins. Djokovic led from start to finish, and the final score of 6-1, 6-2 reflects just how one-sided this match was. Since I know this sport, I never saw somebody playing at this level.
“This is exactly how I want to start the year, playing in the finals of the first tournament against one of my biggest rivals and I’m looking forward to that”, Djokovic said.
Nadal will next play Illya Marchenko in the semifinals. Djokovic cruised, winning the match in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
Nadal had taken the first two sets before Djokovic retired with an injury, granting the Spaniard victory as he went on to successfully defend his title.
And as Djokovic has risen to the top of tennis, Nadal has struggled to keep pace with him.
“I played pretty much flawless tennis today”.
The indomitable Serb took the first set in 31 minutes, firing an astonishing 16 winners against 7 by Nadal. “So I just congratulate him for a great effort”.
Djokovic broke Nadal’s serve twice in each set and was in control throughout.
BRISBANE, Australia // Roger Federer overcame a lingering sickness to hold off Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 on Friday and take his title defence into the semi-finals at the Brisbane International. “I came out on the court with the right intention, right intensity, and with a great deal of confidence I carried from the last season”.
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Djokovic was full of praise for Nadal in his post-match press conference, describing the Spaniard as one of the best to ever pick up a racquet.
