Revenge was sweet for Novak Djokovic on Saturday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Just six weeks removed from relinquishing the year-end No. 1 throne and ATP Finals title to Andy Murray, the Serbian notched a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory in the Doha final.

Djokovic successfully defended his title in the Qatari capital, improving to an impressive 20-0 against his rival when winning the first set. After watching Murray wrestle away the top spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings, the World No. 2 was eager to make an early statement to open 2017.

“Best scenario I could ask for at the beginning of the season,” said Djokovic. “Playing all five matches in this tournament and then three hours against the No. 1, my biggest rival, and winning in a thrilling marathon match is something that definitely can serve as a positive incentive for what’s coming up.

“It’s only the beginning of the season, so we had a little laugh at the net actually about it. We both felt like if every match we’re going to play against each other is going to be this way this season, we’re going to have a fun time.”

The final was a thrilling exhibition of power and defensive prowess, with Djokovic and Murray exchanging bludgeoning blows from the baseline. The Serbian and the Scot took their rivalry to the next level last year and it continued soaring in their first encounter of 2017. Djokovic now leads the FedEx ATP Head2Head 25-11, but he acknowledges that the gap is narrowing.

“You might as well put a lot of hours in training and recovery, because every single point is a rally,” Djokovic added. “I did not expect anything else, to be honest. I knew that the only way to win against Andy is to work your way through him basically.

“He’s such a great defender and he is fighting so much and always gets the ball back. All the way to the last shot I didn’t know if I won the match. It was really, really thrilling performance from both of us. Just a great way to start the year.

“Every match we play is a huge challenge. You have to accept it and expect a great battle. Whether it’s a 250 or 1000 event or a Grand Slam final, it doesn’t change much, to be honest. You saw tonight how much we both wanted to win. Playing against your biggest rival always adds a little bit more flavour to the game and to the match.”

Djokovic will next head to Melbourne Park for the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open. He is looking forward to reuniting with two other longtime rivals – Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The Swiss and the Spaniard are returning to action after injuries hampered their 2016 campaigns.

“Tennis missed them,” Djokovic said. “We missed them, to be honest. Because these guys are legends of our sport. They are the guys that have done so much for the game on and off the court.

“They are stars. Anywhere they show up, people love them. They’re very important assets to our game. It’s great to have both of them back and to have Andy and myself and Wawrinka, of course everybody playing after a long time at the one Grand Slam together. I’m looking forward to competing with these guys and to see them. We’ll see what happens.”

Andy Murray’s remarkable 28-match win streak ended on Saturday when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open final. But the Scot said he’s still feeling positive about his start to the 2017 ATP World Tour season.

“Obviously disappointed not to win tonight, but I played pretty good the last couple of the matches. I think physically it was a good test to start the year, and I did good there,” Murray said. “My body feels all right just now, so that’s positive.”

Murray hadn’t dropped a set until facing Djokovic in the final. The Scot had rolled through Jeremy Chardy, Gerald Melzer, Nicolas Almagro and third seed Tomas Berdych to extend his match-win streak to 28.

The impressive win streak dated back to September, when Murray lost to Juan Martin del Potro during Davis Cup play. The four-month unbeaten run, the best stretch of Murray’s career, featured five ATP World Tour titles and a victory against World No. 2 Novak Djokovic in the title match of the ATP Finals. That win made Murray the year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time in his career.

The Scot was going for his third Doha title on Saturday, having also won the tournament in 2008 and 2009. Instead, he leaves Qatar with a finalist trophy and areas to focus on as the 2017 season gets underway.

“There are things I can do better. I wasn’t that clinical on break points this week, which maybe that comes with playing a few more matches,” he said.

Murray converted only 37 per cent of his break points (14/38) for the week, including two of seven against Djokovic in the final. To compare, the Serbian won 61 per cent of his break points, including three of four against Murray.

“That was the difference this evening,” Murray said of break points. “That’s something I could definitely do a little bit better.”

There were plenty of other positives to take from his opening week of the season, though. Murray has now made the final in 13 of his past 14 tournaments, dating back to the Mutua Madrid Open in May. He also still owns a 780-point lead over Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Read More: Novak & Andy: The Rivalry

What a way to start the 2017 season. World No. 1 Andy Murray and World No. 2 Novak Djokovic are facing off for the Qatar ExxonMobil Open title in Doha.

The Saturday evening final is the 36^th time the two have met during their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry. Djokovic leads the series 24-11, including a 19-8 record on hard courts, but he lost the last time they played – the ATP Finals title match in November. That match decided the year-end No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking. No matter what happens on Saturday, though, Murray will stay No. 1.

Djokovic, the defending Doha champion, advanced to the final by delivering one of his career-best escape acts. The Serbian saved five match points against Fernando Verdasco in the semi-finals to win 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3.

Murray, the top seed and two-time champion in Doha (2008, ’09), dismissed third seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-4 on Friday. The Scot hasn’t dropped a set all week.

Seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov continued his stellar record against top seed and defending champion Milos Raonic on Saturday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, winning the last five games of their semi-final battle to score a 7-6(7), 6-2 upset win. 

“Milos is one of the biggest servers out there. I knew what to expect, so I just had to execute it the right way,” said Dimitrov. “I played a quite solid game to break him [in the second set] and after that, I was just solid overall. I was reading his serve pretty well after that. From then on, it was just smooth sailing.”

This is Dimitrov’s third consecutive win against Raonic, allowing him to improve his record in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series to 3-1.

Standing between Dimitrov and the title is third seed Kei Nishikori, who defeated second seed Stan Wawrinka earlier in the day. The Japanese star leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Dimitrov 3-0, including a quarter-final win last July at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Toronto.

“We played a pretty close match last year. I felt like I had my chance and my momentum,” said Dimitrov. “I’m not playing anything next week, so I’m going to get out there and leave it all on the court.”

Although Raonic said he was disappointed by the loss, he remains confident about being able to regroup and continue raising his level for the Australian Open.

“I feel very good about it. I stepped up this week and did quite a few very good things. It’s about cleaning things up and now I have some time to do that,” said Raonic. “I feel like I’ve done a lot of things to be a much better player. If I can avoid that hiccup, I can have a very, very good time in Melbourne.”

Neither Raonic or Dimitrov faced a break point on serve in the opening set. In the tie-break, Dimitrov saved a set point on his serve at 5/6, forcing Raonic to do the same down 6/7. But the Bulgarian grabbed the crucial mini-break at 7/7 and made good on his second set point chance.

Dimitrov finally earned the first break of the match to lead 3-2 in the second set and it appeared to break Raonic’s spirits. The seventh seed began rifling winners at will, taking 14 of the last 18 points in the match to secure the victory.