Nadal Awaits Djokovic In Doha

Rafael Nadal will attempt to capture his first ATP World Tour hard-court title for two years on Saturday when he plays familiar foe Novak Djokovic in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open final. “I know if I’m playing well, I am going to have opportunities,” said Nadal. The top seeds will meet for a record 47^th time on the ATP World Tour. The series is currently tied 23-all, with Djokovic winning the past four matches.

Nadal, who won the 2014 title, booked a place in his 99th tour-level final (67-31 record) by knocking out World No. 94 Illya Marchenko, appearing in his third ATP World Tour semi-final. 6-3, 6-4 in 78 minutes.

“I did a few good things, and I’m happy with the victory, being in the first final of the season in the first official tournament is something great,” said Nadal. “For sure it’s important for my confidence, confirming that the end of the 2015 season had been something realistic and [in] the beginning of 2016 I [am] still playing well.”

Nadal opened up a 3-0 lead in the first set, which he won in 35 minutes. With a string of winners, Marchenko recovered from 15/40 in the opening game of the second set, but Nadal soon applied the pressure and broke to love for a 3-2 advantage.

Marchenko defeated defending champion David Ferrer in the first round and overcame No. 7 seed Jeremy Chardy in the quarter-finals

Meanwhile, Djokovic improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Tomas Berdych to 22-2 by downing the Czech 6-3, 7-6(3) in the semi-finals. Djokovic dropped serve in the opening game of the match, but did not falter on serve the rest of the way and closed out the win in just under two hours.