Rafael Nadal advances to final at Qatar Open

“It’s always a great challenge and both of us had to go through a lot of emotions before the match getting ready and kind of analyzing and preparing tactically with the team”. By the end of the contest, such theories had been debunked.

“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”, Nadal said afterward, according to the ATP Tour website.

Despite that, he maintains he can do well in Melbourne, where he has won once, in 2009, beating Federer in the final. This was a gruelling, attritional battle on the clay of the Caja Magica where Nadal delighted the home fans by digging deep to emerge victorious.

Federer stopped Raonic in three sets in Brisbane in the final past year.

Going into the final, Djokovic and Nadal were tied at 23 wins apiece in their career meetings, the most between any players in ATP Tour history.

Nadal was playing in his 99th career final. “My thoughts are only directed to Melbourne and what I need to do there”, asserted Djokovic, who will be bidding for his sixth title Down Under.

He played 23 tournaments in 2015 but managed just three titles, failing to win a single Grand Slam or a Masters 1000 event.

Djokovic and Nadal have been facing off for years, though last night appeared to be one of the Serbian’s clearest victories against the Spanish athlete. Nadal has not won a set in their last four matches, even at his former strongholds, Roland Garros and Monte Carlo. Later, post the match too Nadal zestfully said, “Well, I found a new coach too today”. The Serb did not waste any time in putting the Spaniard on the back foot, racing to a 0/40 lead in the next game after striking a sublime drop shot to draw Nadal out of position. He immediately opened a triple-break point lead in the next game.

“Let’s see in Australia and let’s see later during the whole season”, he said. “They would be the two main ones for me”, he added.

Nadal, though, wobbled in his opening service game, allowing the Serb’s sumptuous dropshot at 0-30 to foreshadow the remainder of the set. Nadal looked dejected and nearly unwilling to play on, an unfortunate finish to what has been a productive week for the Spaniard. He probably had a point but Nadal did not argee and, more importantly, neither did the umpire.

It wasn’t just his ability to hit winners that stood out―Djokovic’s return game was impeccable in the first set, just as it was for most of 2015.