By Chris Oddo | Saturday March 19, 2016
Novak Djokovic withstood an inspired effort from Rafael Nadal and booked his spot in the Indian Wells final on Sunday.
Photo Source: Harry How/Getty
It was an invigorating tussle between tennis’ longest-tenured and perhaps most storied rivals, but in the end a familiar theme shone through as the last ball was struck between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at today’s second BNP Paribas Open semifinal. It’s still Djokovic’s world and everybody else is paying hefty rent.
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Nadal threatened to win his first set against world No. 1 Djokovic in nearly two years, but the Spaniard dropped a hard-fought tiebreaker at the end of a wildly entertaining first set before falling 7-6(5), 6-2 and seeing his losing streak against the Serb stretch to six.
“He was better,” Djokovic said of Nadal’s performance on Saturday. “Undoubtedly he prefers playing here comparing to Doha. Think these conditions played in his favor more because of the ball bounce and the speed of the court. And he loves playing in the courts where he has a very high bounce.”
There was indeed a feeling of hope from Nadal’s side of the court. Thrashed brutally by Djokovic in Doha this winter, Nadal fought hard to create a different dynamic in this their 48th career meeting. Coming off a trio of extremely hard-fought victories here at Indian Wells, including his first top-10 win of the season over Kei Nishikori, Nadal played inspired tennis from the start and he quickly moved ahead by a break before Djokovic seemed to get any sort of traction in the first set.
“I think I played well during the week,” Nadal would later say of his performance. “I won very interesting matches, good ones, fighting. Today was closer than the last couple of times against the best player of world, so was a very positive week for me.”
Even though he allowed Djokovic to break back in the third game of the set, Nadal held firm for several games and looked far more comfortable dealing with Djokovic, perhaps due to the slower, higher-bouncing conditions of the hard courts at Indian Wells, or perhaps simply because his form is vastly improved from the beginning of the season.
Whatever the case, Nadal saved two break points to hold for 4-3 in set one, closing that game with a bending ace down the T, and a few games later Nadal had a set point with Djokovic serving at 4-5.
Djokovic dug deep to wiggle out of that spot of danger and continued his mastery of Nadal in the tiebreaker, taking the last two points after Nadal had furiously rallied from 5-2 down to level at 5-all.
Still, it was a good sign for Nadal that he had competed so closely with Djokovic. Mixing his serves to great effect, and even ramping up the pace to 126 MPH on a few, Nadal was able to dictate to Djokovic more than he has in their recent meetings.
“I had my chances in the first set,” Nadal said. “I felt for a moment that I was competing at the highest level possible. At the beginning of the tiebreak and at the end of the first set with some Love-15 that I had, I made a few mistakes with my forehand. That's the only thing.”
He added: “I believe that with a little bit more of confidence with my forehand at the end of that first set will be a better chance.”
After five consecutive holds in the second set, the ever menacing Djokovic made his move, and once again made the gap between the two greats plain to see. He would break for a 4-2 lead on his third break point of the set, and after consolidating, he ended Nadal’s hopes by converting his sixth match point at the end of a long game which featured plenty of jaw-dropping offense from Djokovic.
“Obviously today the first set was decided in one or two points; second set was very close,” Djokovic said. “Midway through the second I broke his serve, and last three games I played very well.
“I'm just glad to overcome this challenge that is one of the greatest in sport, as always is playing against Rafa. I'm taking the positives out of today's performance and hoping that I can, you know, finish off this tournament tomorrow with another great performance.”
Djokovic improves his lifetime record against Nadal to 25-23, and will face Milos Raonic on Sunday with a chance to become the first five-time champion in the history of this tournament.
The Serb owns a 5-0 lifetime edge against Raonic.