Novak Djokovic brushes aside Rafael Nadal to clinch Doha crown

When Nadal stormed through the third, he looked on course for a fairly comfortable win but to think that is to ignore the history books when it comes to these two.

Nadal will have to play a lot better than Djokovic if he wants to win the game.

Earlier on centre court, Nadal needed just one hour and 17 minutes to defeat the tournament’s surprise package Illya Marchenko 6-3, 6-4.

He hit 30 winners, forced seven break points and faced only one himself, which, predictably, he saved.

“Not ideal, obviously. But I did a few good things, and I’m happy with the victory, being in the first final of the season”, said a coy Nadal.

“The way I played today gives me great satisfaction”. The world No. 1 assumed control and broke the Spaniard before holding his serve to open up a 3-0 advantage.

Yet an improved end to past year, which saw him reach the finals in Beijing and Basel and beat Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, has continued into the start of 2016.

As a matter of fact, Djokovic has won the last four times that he and Nadal have played.

Agnieszka Radwanska scored a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Alison Riske of the United States to win the Shenzhen (China) Open. Nadal was once borderline dominant in this rivalry, but Djokovic has turned the tide in a major way to draw level.

The Serb has now won nine of his last 10 clashes with Nadal.

Djokovic erased memories of a quarterfinal exit in Doha a year ago, capturing his sixth consecutive ATP World Tour title and 60th overall at the tour level.

The Briton has lost four finals in Melbourne – three to Serbia’s Djokovic. Djokovic recovered from break deficits against Berdych (once) and Leonardo Mayer (twice).

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

Roger Federer, still battling a flu bug, held off Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 and take his title defense into the semifinals at the Brisbane International in Australia.

It would be hard to argue against such assessments, especially after the year Djokovic has just had.

And as Djokovic has risen to the top of tennis, Nadal has struggled to keep pace with him.

“Normally I’m here for two weeks before the Aussie Open, but I [have] been here for three weeks [to] try and help a bit with acclimatisation and get over the jet lag”.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal returns the ball during a match against Andrey Kuznetsov of Russian Federation at Qatar Open tennis tournament Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Doha, Qatar.