Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will resume their riveting rivalry in Sunday’s title match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after four-time former champion Federer crushed Novak Djokovic 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday evening. It will be only the second meeting this season between World No. 1 Nadal and No. 2 Federer. Nadal prevailed when the pair met in the final of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open on clay in May and leads their head-to-head series 14-7. All but four of their 21 meetings have come in tour-level finals.
“It’s been a great tournament so far, clearly, having not lost a set and beaten so many good players, close rivals. Today was another great match,” said Federer. “Obviously I’m really looking forward to playing against Rafa tomorrow. Who wouldn’t? I’m no different. “I’m really looking forward to playing him for the first time in the finals of a [Barclays ATP] World Tour Finals. I think I played him twice in the semis before, so it should be entertaining and exciting for both of us.”
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It will be the first No. 1-2 ranked final at the year-end championships since 1986 when No. 1 Ivan Lendl defeated No. 2 Boris Becker at the Masters in New York. It will also be the first final between two unbeaten players (4-0) leading into the title match since 1993, when Michael Stich and Pete Sampras accomplished the feat. Stich went on to win the title. The 29-year-old Federer is chasing his fifth title at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after winning back-to-back titles in 2003-04 in Houston and 2006-07 in Shanghai. He also reached the final in 2005, finishing runner-up to David Nalbandian in a fifth-set tie-break.
The Swiss delivered a master class to dismiss Djokovic in 80 minutes in their 19th career meeting. He hit 31 winners, to just 14 from Djokovic, and broke serve four times from 11 opportunities to record his fourth win in five clashes with the Serbian this season. Djokovic’s only win came in the US Open semi-finals, when he saved two match points to prevail in five sets.”I thought Novak played a decent match,” reflected Federer. “I was able to outplay him at times, play aggressive. I took it to him, exactly the way I was hoping to make it. I thought it was a great match.”
“He was on top of his game,” conceded Djokovic. “I think he was playing unbelievable from the first moment. He deserved to win. He was the better player today. To me, he’s maybe playing the best tennis in 2010.” The 23-year-old Djokovic paid the price for a nervous start, double faulting on break point in the second game to hand Federer the early initiative. The second-seeded Federer then took completed command of the first set as he broke serve again in the sixth game when Djokovic netted a forehand volley, and closed it out with a strong service hold to 15.
The third-seeded Djokovic, who won the title in 2008, looked set to mount a fight back in the second set as a sweetly struck forehand return set up a break point in the second game, which he converted as Federer netted a volley. The Belgrade native could not maintain his lead for long, though. Federer attacked in the fifth game and with Djokovic under pressure, the Serb placed his backhand passing shot wide.
Djokovic resisted Federer’s advances in the seventh game as he rallied to hold from 0/40, but he could not keep the Swiss at bay in the ninth game. The Basel native earned two break points with a forehand drop volley, and converted his second opportunity by thundering a forehand return winner down the line. In a comfortable closing service game, Federer finished with an ace out wide. World No. 3 Djokovic, a winner of two ATP World Tour titles this year and runner-up at the US Open, will finish his season next week when he leads Serbia in the Davis Cup final against France.
“I’m a little bit disappointed to finish this way. But I just have to give all the credit to my opponent today,” said the Belgrade native. “He was better. I was not playing the way I wanted. I will try to play better next week.”