Novak Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-6 (7-3) in the semifinal of the Qatar Open in Doha setting up a blockbuster final against Rafa Nadal who beat World Number 94 Ilya Marchenko 6-3 6-4. Nadal and Djokovic will go head-to-head for the 47th time in their careers.
Djokovic has reached his 16th consecutive final. He is just two finals far away from Ivan Lendl’s Open Era record of 18 consecutive finals.
“I am very proud of the achievement and this particular stat but I try not to think about what would happen if I would lose and not get to the final. I try to keep an optimistic approach to every match and every tournament”. It’s been a long rivalry, but it’s an exciting challenge for both of us, said Djokovic.
Djokovic was broken in the opening game of the first set. The Czech player went up 15-40 and got the chance to break Djokovic in the fifth game. Djokovic came back by reeling off five consecutive games en route to clinching the first set in 38 minutes.
The second set went on serve until the tie-break. Djokovic raced to 4-0 en route to clinching the tie-break 7-3.
With this win Djokovic improved his head-to-head record against Berdych to 22-2.
In the first semifinal Nadal raced to a 3-0 lead. Marchenko, who beat David Ferrer in the first round and Jeremy Chardy in the quarter finals, saved two break points at 4-1 but Nadal did not drop any point when he put his first serve in en route to winning the first set in 35 minutes.
Marchenko rallied from 15-40 in the first game of the second set before Nadal broke serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Nadal held his serve until the end of the match.
Nadal has reached his 99th career final. The Spanish star will play in his first final in 18 hard-court tournaments since he clinched the Qatar Open final in 2014 when he beat Gael Monfils.
“I am happy with the victory, being in the first final of the season in the first official tournament is something great. The most important thing is if you feel yourself that every time you go on court you are competitive against everybody and you have your chances. To be back in a final is always a great feeling”, said Nadal.
Nadal and Djokovic are tied 23-23 in their 46 head-to-head matches.
Djokovic won all their four matches played in 2015 without dropping a set. Nadal has beaten Djokovic since the 2014 Roland Garros final.
