14. 11. 2009. ·
World no.3 Novak Djokovic defeated second-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in just 1 hour and 16 minutes to reach the finals at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris (€2,750,000).
Djokovic and Nadal were battling for the 20th time. Novak’s fantastic performance knocked the spectators off their feet, and also Rafa who couldn’t find a solution for the Serb’s game.
Nole’s show began at 2-2 in the opening set. He won seven games in a row, breaking the Spaniard’s service three times to love, for 6-2 3-0 lead.
The 22-year-old from Belgrade didn’t face a single break point in the match and clinched his fifth victory over the world no.2. Nadal leads their head-to-heads 14-6.
Djokovic served 3 aces to Nadal’s 4.
The Serb hit 31 winners to the Spaniard’s 13, and made 14 unforced errors, 6 more than his opponent.
Nole converted all the three break points, while Rafa didn’t have a single chance for break.
”There’s not much to say about today’s performance, except it was perfect”, said Novak. “Exactly the way I wanted it. I have done, tactically-wise, everything that I imagined to do and planned to do before the match. I was very aggressive. I took the early control of the match over my opponent, and it paid off. I was hitting winners from all over the court and really trying to keep that momentum going throughout the whole match. I didn’t give him many chances to come back into the match.”
”He played very well”, admitted Nadal after the match. “He played unbelievable, in my opinion. I didn’t play bad. That’s the truth. But with this level of Novak’s, it is very difficult to play at this level, especially on this surface.”
Final games of the match (video)
In-form Djokovic advanced to his fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final of the season (also Miami, Monte Carlo, Rome, Cincinnati).
Novak will face no.15 seed Gael Monfils in the Sunday’s final in Bercy, in attempt to win his 16th career title. The Frenchman beat no.13 seed Czech Radek Stepanek in three sets 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in 2 hours and 34 minutes.
Djokovic and Monfils have met three times on ATP tour, Nole leads 3-0. Monfils won their only futures match in Bergamo back in 2004.
The winner of the tournament will get 1000 ATP points and €450,000.
