Nadal, Djokovic Set Up Huge Doha Finals Clash

The Qatar ExxonMobil Open finals will be a star-studded affair as world number one Novak Djokovic will take on Rafael Nadal, after each player won their respective semifinal matches in straight sets on Friday.

Nadal was up first on Friday and he squared off with Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko, who had come through the draw with upsets over fourth-seed David Ferrer and seventh-seed Jeremy Chardy.

The Spaniard broke Marchenko early and established an early 3-0 advantage, before going on to take the opening set 6-3 in 35 minutes.

And he erased any hopes for a comeback, breaking easily for a 3-2 lead, and went on to serve out the set and the match to advance to the finals.

“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.”

That play will be put to the test in the final when he squares off with a familiar opponent in Djokovic.

The Serb took on third-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych in his semifinal on Friday. Just like he did in his previous match against Leonardo Mayer, Djokovic was broke in his opening service game and was staring down a 0-2 hole.

But he held serve and broke back to even things at 2-2, and one more break for a 5-3 lead allowed him to serve out the opening set.

While each player would have a couple chances to break in the second set, each player held serve in their six service games, forcing the set into a tiebreaker. Djokovic rattled off the first four points in the breaker and went on to close the match out in one hour and 42 minutes.

“This is exactly how I want to start the year, playing in the finals of the first tournament against one of my biggest rivals and I’m looking forward to that,” said Djokovic. “It always represents a great challenge to play Nadal because of the fact that we have played so many times for the trophies.”