Nadal advanced to his career 99th final after defeating Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4.
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It will be the pair’s 47th meeting, an ATP Tour record, with the head-to-head count now standing at 23 wins apiece.
Novak Djokovic put in a “perfect” performance as he sealed a straight sets victory over Rafael Nadal in the final of the Qatar Open.
The last time the Serb failed to reach a tournament final was when he lost in the quarter-finals in last year’s Qatar Open.
Novak Djokovic made sure the lone blip on his jaw-dropping 2015 resume was a distant memory, routing rival Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-2 for the season-opening Qatar ExxonMobil Open title.
In the process, Djokovic won his sixth consecutive ATP World Tour title and became the 10th player to achieve the 60-titles milestone.
Nadal’s serve dominated throughout against a player who troubled the best all week and knocked out the reigning champion and number four seed David Ferrer in round one. “From the very beginning I managed to get every shot the way I wanted”, said Djokovic. As well as going down an early break in the first set, he then required a second-set tiebreak to get past world No. 6 Tomas Berdych in straight sets. Nadal, meanwhile, is the reigning doubles champion, having taken the title previous year with partner Juan Monaco of Argentina.
“Maybe I am three weeks away, maybe I am five months away, or six or nine, or maybe I am forever away”, Nadal said.
Federer left his opponent and the center court crowd stunned as he charged to a 5-0 lead Pat Rafter Arena before encountering stiffer resistance from his 22-year-old opponent as the match progressed at the Australian Open warmup.
“Not ideal, obviously. But I did a few good things, and I’m happy with the victory, being in the first final of the season”, said a coy Nadal.
“I know his character, how big of a fighter he is and how hard he works”, the world No. 1 said, adding that “there’s a reason” why the current world No. 5 is one of the greatest of all time.
The final set was also unpredictable, with number two seed Nadal again squandering a break advantage before decisively taking the Russian’s serve in the ninth game. It can be argued he lost the match mentally for as the decider wore on Djokovic complained bitterly about the slippery state of the court, saying it needed watering on what was a scorching Paris day.
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He will be the prohibitive favorite for the first major of 2016, the Australian Open, which starts on January 18.
