Djokovic turns on the style to sink Nadal
NOVAK Djokovic turned on the style to outclass old adversary Rafael Nadal and reach the final of the ATP World Tour finals with a 6-3 6-3 victory at the 02 Arena yesterday.
Spaniard Nadal had looked like his old dominant self with round-robin wins against Andy Murray, Stanislas Wawrinka and David Ferrer, but the world No 5 was no match for Djokovic, who was at his clinical best.
World No 1 Djokovic, bidding for a fourth consecutive title at the season-ender, and a fifth in total, launched an early onslaught, breaking Nadal’s serve in the second game of the match with four sweetly-struck, clean winners.
From then on he was barely troubled by the 14-times grand slam champion, who could make little impression.
A dipping backhand forced a Nadal volley error to give the Serbian two break points in the fifth game of the second set, and he converted after a fierce baseline rally.
There was no way back from there for Nadal. Djokovic was clearly in a hurry to finish the job, breaking again at 5-3 with a flurry of pinpoint winners.
“It was a great performance from the very beginning,” said Djokovic. “I was trying to be aggressive and dictate the play, and I managed to pull out my best game when it was needed the most.
“We have not changed our games radically since we met the first time. We both play on the baseline, him with more spin, me trying to flatten it out a bit more. It is roughly the same as when we met for the first time.”
Djokovic will face either Roger Federer or Wawrinka in today’s final.
Asked who he would like to play in the final, Djokovic joked: “I prefer playing against a Swiss player! And, hopefully, I can perform as well as I did today.”