Djokovic thrashes Nadal to win Qatar Open

Former champions and dominant players of the 00’s Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are next in line, priced at odds of $10 and $12 respectively. More importantly, it moved Djokovic level with André Agassi for the ninth most titles won in the Open era.

The Russian eventually took it 7-5, the first time the 24-year-old had ever taken a set from Nadal. In beating those four opponents, he has not dropped a set.

It was the 16th consecutive final for Djokovic who last lost a tournament in August past year in the US. In his own words, Djokovic played a “perfect match”. He wrapped up the match after 73 minutes, striking a total 30 winners to just 13 unforced errors.

“I am playing good”.

“I’m hoping that I can actually peak and play as well as I did today in Melbourne”, Djokovic said. “[The Doha title] does definitely give me a great deal of confidence for the rest of the season”, he continued further. Of course that’s easier said than done.

“I guess it’s a pretty important match tomorrow, let’s see what happens”, said Djokovic.

‘It’d mean a lot because of how may times I’ve been close. “My grandfather used to call me Falcon”.

Rafael Nadal advanced to the 99th final of his career on Friday at the Qatar Open.

“So he’s one of the best players in the history of the game for a reason, and I’m sure that after last year’s season that was not up to his standards, he’s willing to do something else and improve his game”. Since I know this sport I have never seen somebody playing at this (high) level. And he went about his business in style. Getting stuck into Nadal’s serve on a regular basis, Djokovic looked set for victory when he broke for 6-5 in the third but he could not serve out and when he lost the ensuing tie-break, the momentum was with a pumped-up Nadal.

Nadal went down to the ATP rankings leader in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 during the final of the Qatar Open on Sunday (AEDT). The second set began in the same fashion as first, with Djokovic breaking the Spaniard’s serve in the opening game.

But in the fifth game Kerber faltered and Azarenka broke the German to move ahead 3-2.

Nadal’s serve dominated throughout against a player who had knocked out the reigning champion and No. 4 seed David Ferrer in round one.

The world No1 was in incredible form previous year and won three of the four Grand Slams. I get the sense that Djokovic is now going to pull away from Rafa, extending his newly acquired lead.

It is a feeling that Djokovic knows well, having followed up his 2010 Davis Cup victory for Serbia by winning in Australia just a few weeks later, and there is a real sense Murray could be on the same track.