World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will face Rafael Nadal in a blockbuster final at the China Open after beating David Ferrer 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday in the Beijing semi-finals.
Could Nadal be the one to snap Djokovic’s 28-match winning streak in the Chinese capital? The Spaniard leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head 23-21, but it is Djokovic who has prevailed in six of their past seven contests. When the duo met in the 2013 Beijing final, it was Djokovic who won in straight sets.
“I always expect a battle with him,” said Djokovic. “I always prepare myself for the battle, no question about it. He’s the player I played the most against in my life. There are no secrets.
“I know he’s going to try his best tomorrow to win his title, and I will do, too. I think we are both on a very high level; we know how to play these big matches. I’m sure we’re going to go out and play some good tennis for the crowd. The better player will win.”
Following his semi-final victory over Fabio Fognini earlier in the day, Nadal remarked, “I know today Novak is not in my league; he has been on a different level to me this year. So for me to be in the final is great news and tomorrow is a match to try to enjoy and try to play the way that I want to play, and we’ll see.”
Djokovic has now won 25 successive sets in Beijing and delivered another superb performance to beat Ferrer in 74 minutes. The Belgrade native lost serve for the first time this week in the first set, but won 57 per cent of points on Ferrer’s serve as he broke the Spaniard three times to seal the opener.
There was just one more blip for Djokovic as he was broken when serving for the match at 5-2 in the second set – making Ferrer the first player this week to get more than two games in a set against the Serb. But Djokovic was swiftly back in control and broke Ferrer in the following game to claim his 67th victory of the season.
“I served very well throughout the entire match, especially in the first set with 79% of the first serves in,” said Djokovic. “But I didn’t get too many free points on the serve. He was getting a lot of returns back. He always made me play an extra shot.
“I thought I did exceptionally well on the return games, putting a lot of pressure on him from the first ball. The first shot was a really quality shot from my side tonight, and that’s what I was looking for. To kind of impose the aggression from the first shot, not allowing him to get into the longer rallies and get into the play, so it worked very well.”
Djokovic is looking to win the Beijing crown for the sixth time, following victories in 2009-10 and 2012-14. The right-hander, who has already secured the year-end top spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the fourth time in five years, will attempt to win his eighth tour-level title in what has been an incredible season.
The Serb took his Grand Slam haul to 10 with victories at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open and narrowly missed out on the calendar slam as he was beaten in the Roland Garros final by Stan Wawrinka. He has also captured four ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo and Rome.
( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/djokovic-to-face-nadal-in-beijing-final )
Topics: Atp World Tour, Beijing, China Open tennis, David Ferrer, Fabio Fognini, Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Sports, Tennis News
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