It’s happening right here — a Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal final.
In 2015, Djokovic and Nadal fell in the quarter-finals and first round respectively. Cut to today, two of the sport’s greatest stars in history will face-off in an enticing clash at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
Last night at the Khalifa Complex, both Djokovic and Nadal were in their elements in their respective semi-finals.
Djokovic’s encounter was the toughest one, as he faced last year’s Doha finalist and third seed Tomas Bedych. The top seed Serb was down 1-3 in the first set, but recovered to post a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over the Czech, a victory that was a testimony to both Djokovic’s mental strength and his ability with the racquet.
Second seed Nadal was up against a much easier opponent, but Illya Marchenko was the giant-killer of the tournament. The 14-time champion, however, dismantled Marchenko, who had knocked out two seeds in previous matches, including defending champion David Ferrer in the first round. Nadal took an hour and 17 minutes to win 6-3, 6-4.
“I guess it’s an important match tomorrow,” world No. 1 Djokovic said of his 47th meeting with Nadal. “Let’s see what happens. We’ve played each other so many times, it will be an interesting one. I hope we put on a good show and fans will enjoy it.”
Djokovic and Nadal have split equal number of victories in their head-to-head contest — 23 each — and today’s encounter will decide who takes the lead and a mental edge as they head to Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam beginning on January 18.
They hold the record for most meetings between two players in the Open Era, eclipsing the mark previously held by Lendl and John McEnroe. Djokovic has an 8-1 record against Nadal since the 2013 US Open. He is 13-10 in tour-level finals and 16-7 on hard courts.
After their victories last night, Djokovic has now gone into his 16th straight ATP final, third longest run in the Open era behind Ivan Lendl (18) and Roger Federer (17). While Nadal, who triumphed here in 2014, will play his 99th tour-level final (67-31 record).
Moreover, the Spaniard is chasing his first ATP World Tour hard-court title in two years and he couldn’t have asked for a tougher test to end the drought.
For, Djokovic is set to be hitting peak form, the kind that won him three Slams and six Masters titles last year. There were doubts whether he would play in the semis last night as the news spread that he had cut short his pre-match practice after injuring his arm.
But he was on court right after Nadal had won his match. Djokovic started poorly though, as he was broken in the very first game, slipping and falling on the ground while going for a forehand. Berdych sped to a 3-1 lead and it appeared that the pre-match rumours on Djokovic’s injury were true.
The World No.1, however, raised his game and took five successive games to close out the set, as Berdych typically lost his game and nerves. The second went on serve till the tie-breaker, before Djokovic burst through taking a 4-0 advantage. It was no looking back thereafter as he went 19-0 in hard courts against the sixth-ranked Berdych.
In the first semifinal, Nadal, well aware of Marchenko’s recent good run, started aggressively not giving the Ukrainian the momentum that he had played with all along during the tournament.
The Mallorcan played with much more vigour, opening up a 3-0 lead in the first set, before closing it out in just 35 minutes. The 94th-ranked Marchenko was immediately down 15-40 in first game of the second set, before he pulled things back. But Nadal made the break by love in the fifth game to take a 3-2 advantage and held onto his serves to make it to his second final in Doha.
“It was not a perfect win. But I did a few good things and I’m happy with result,” said Nadal. “Being in the first final of the season in the first official tournament is great, and I am very happy for that. For sure, it is important for me for my confidence, (to) confirm that the end of 2015 season had been something realistic and the beginning of 2016 I am still playing well. I have already won four matches here and I am in the final. That means I have confidence, and rhythm. So everything’s positive,” the 29-year-old added.
 
Results
Singles semi-finals
1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt 3-Tomas Bedych (Czech Republic) 6-3, 7-6 (3)
2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Illya Marchenko (Ukraine) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles final
3-Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez (Spain) bt Philipp Petzschner (Germany) and Alexander Peya (Austria) 6–4, 6–3