Rafael Nadal labels Novak Djokovic as ‘perfect’

A Novak Djokovic serve – which swung and stung received an erroneous response from Rafael Nadal, sealing the title round contest of the Qatar Open in this windswept capital city.

Novak Djokovic moved ahead for the first time in his long-running rivalry with Rafael Nadal when the world number one thrashed the Spaniard to win the Qatar Open in Doha on Saturday.

This year will see Murray head into the Australian Open as the world number two for the first time in his career but he has lost three times in the final of the competition to the Serb.

This was Djokovic’s most convincing victory against Nadal in their 47 meetings, a head-to-head he leads for the first time. “For sure [it] is important for me for my confidence, confirm that the end of the 2015 season had been something realistic and this beginning of 2016 I am still playing well, so I am able to already win four matches here and be in the final”.

Djokovic, for whom this was a first Qatar Open title, said: “I played very much ideal tennis”.

The two-time Australian Open champion steadily improved in each round in Brisbane and showed in the final she will be a serious contender in Melbourne.

Having lost to Djokovic in last year’s final at Melbourne Park and in the 2011 and 2013 title-deciders, Murray is well aware he faces a huge task to overcome his fierce rival and win his first Australian title. He is going to play his 16th final in a single row. “I’m just looking forward to a great battle”. Kuznetsov broke Nadal four times in the match, but the former world No. 1 had enough gas in his tank to avoid an upset. But, the Serbian was in no mood to settle with just one break, he claimed another one in the sixth to go 5-1 up and soon the crowds had changed their stance. And Djokovic revealed he is relishing his latest clash with Nadal. 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.

“It did feel as close to perfection as it could get”, said Djokovic, who didn’t drop a set all week.

Jamie Murray enjoyed a good start to his new doubles partnership with Bruno Soares as they reached the semi-finals in Doha.

Djokovic escaped with a hard 6-3, 7-5 victory over eight seed Leonardo Mayer of Argentina on Thursday to advance to the semifinal.