Nadal hails ‘perfect’ Djokovic after Qatar defeat

Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych in the semis to reach the final against Nadal.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will break their 23-23 head-to-head record when they meet for the 47th time in the Qatar Open final Saturday.

Saturday’s win was Djokovic’s 16th straight final triumph, pushing his overall stats to 45-6 in his last 51 matches on the ATP Tour.

2015 was the year for celebrations to Djokovic while it was a year to forget about for Nadal as he failed to win a single grand slam because of his injuries which didn’t let him past it. However, as the last year approached its end, the Spaniard looks like returning to his form.

Rafael Nadal advanced to the 99th final of his career on Friday at the Qatar Open. Djokovic continued from where he left in 2015, when he won three Grand Slams, six Masters titles and finished 82-6.

“I’m playing the tennis of my life, and I will try to nurture and cherish those moments on the court”.

By holding off Dimitrov, who is 10 years his junior, Federer set up a meeting with 22-year-old Dominic Thiem, the youngest player in the top 20. He has now claimed 11 consecutive sets against Nadal since the Spaniard prevailed in the 2014 Roland Garros final.

Djokovic was relentless in the tiebreak, breaking Berdych’s first serve and ended up prevailing in the decider 7-3.

“The week that I have before the Australian Open starts will be very useful for me because I have played a lot, trained very hard, played a great five matches here”.

“It does definitely give me a great deal of confidence for the rest of the season”.

Prediction: Djokovic in straight sets.

“This is exactly how I want to start the year, playing in the finals of the first tournament against one of my biggest rivals and I’m looking forward to that”, Djokovic said.

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. He is going to be travelling to Australia with me. And I think I will be.

Things would only get better for the World No. 1 after that, as Djokovic broke again to take a 5-1 lead with a service game of his own to wrap up the set.

“It’s for every young player an incredible experience to play with probably the greatest of all time”, Thiem said.

Agnieszka Radwanska scored a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Alison Riske of the United States to win the Shenzhen (China) Open.