By Rizwan Rehmat
DOHA: World number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia yesterday maintained his stranglehold on third seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic to set up a mouth-watering final against arch-rival Rafael Nadal at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
Top seed Djokovic crushed Berdych 6-3, 7-5 in 1 hour 42 minutes to sign in for his maiden Doha final in what is the Serbian’s second appearance in the Qatari capital.
It was Djokovic’s 22nd win over Berdych in 24 meetings on the ATP Tour.
Earlier yesterday, Nadal proved too strong for Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko to reach his third final in Doha. Nadal, seeded second, won 6-3, 6-4 in 77 minutes.
Djokovic said reaching the Doha final was ‘very satisfying’.
“Yes, it is very satisfying to reach the final,” Djokovic said.
“Tomas is an established top-10 player for many years now. He knows how to play on the big stage. He’s very solid from every angle. He’s got a very powerful game,” Djokovic said.
“He serves really well. If he has time he can hurt anybody on any surface. We have played so many times against each other. The fact that I have played him many times over the last 7-8 years has actually helped me prepare well against him.
“It was a very close match and all in all I am just glad to get through,” Djokovic said.
The Serbian said he was looking forward to his 47th career clash against Nadal. Both have 23 wins apiece.
“I guess it is a pretty important match,” Djokovic said with his trademark infectious smile in place.
“Let’s see what happens. Obviously we have played so many times against each other. I have not played any other player as much as I have played against Rafa.
“It’s been a long rivalry. It’s another challenge for both of us. Hope we can play great and exciting tennis in the final,” he said
Djokovic did not make the most fluent of starts in the opening set. He uncharacteristically smashed two returns into the net and then fired a long ball to gift the first game to Berdych. The tall Czech held is serve in game 2 but Djokovic quickly snapped out of his cagey start to take game 3.
A couple of unforced errors from Djokovic allowed Berdych to hold serve in game 4 but In the following game, the world number one saved two break points to reduce the deficit at 2-3. At deuce in game six, Djokovic broke Berdych when he produced a powerful baseline shot followed by a double fault by the Czech. Moments later, Djokovic was leading 4-3 when he held his serve in game seven.
Gaining momentum like a steam engine, Djokovic found near-perfect range in his returns as he broke Berdych again in game 8 for a 5-3 lead. Serving for the first set, Djokovic saw Berdych smash a tame return into the net.
In the second set both players held their serve to force a tie-breaker after game 12.
In the tie-breaker, Djokovic raced to a 4-0 lead as Berdych misfired with his returns. At 6-2, Berdych produced a passing shot from the baseline to reduce the deficit at 6-3 but the Czech smashed the ball into the net to trail at 3-7. A long return seconds later gave Djokovic the match point.
Earlier, Nadal made Marchenko - conqueror of defending champion David Ferrer on Tuesday - run around the court.
In the first set, Marchenko seemed overeager to put pressure on Nadal but former world number one relied on placements to get the early advantage. Nadal grabbed game one as Marchenko committed a couple of unforced errors, allowing the Spaniard to race to a 1-0 lead within seconds.
In the second game, Marchenko continued to show nerves as Nadal broke the tall Ukrainian who misfired with a couple of long returns. Nadal held serve in game three to jump to a 3-0 lead by firing an ace at 40-0.
Trailing 1-4, Marchenko saved a break point to reduce the deficit at 2-4 after game six. In game seven, a properly warmed-up Nadal began to flex his muscles by firing an ace that was followed by a backhand from the baseline to hold serve and lead 5-2 in just 27 minutes.
Marchenko held serve in game but Nadal grabbed the first set as the Ukrainian fired a return long on set point.
In the second set, both players held their serve until game five when Nadal broke the well-built Ukrainian with powerful returns to take a
3-2 lead. Nadal stuttered in game six as Marchenko managed a break point against the Spaniard. But the 2014 Qatar Open champion served strongly to force a deuce and eventually take the game at 4-2.
In game 10, Nadal held his serve firing an ace before Marchenko - looking worn out - slammed a return long to give the Spaniard his 99th career final.
“To have reached another final is always a great feeling,” Nadal said.
“It is the first of the season. It is a very important time for me because I finished the 2015 season well and now I have started 2016 really well,” Nadal added.
“I am playing better than the last season. I am very happy for that. I think my opponent had an amazing week. He was playing well and he was very, very dangerous,” Nadal said.
The Peninsula
