China Open Final: Djokovic v Nadal

[britbox]

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal resume a storied rivalry in the final of the China Open, Beijing.

Both players won their semi-finals in straight sets, Djokovic defeating David Ferrer 6-2, 6-3 with Nadal prevailing against Italian Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-3.

Nadal and Djokovic have met on 44 previous occasions, the most prolific rivalry in the Open Era in terms of matches contested. Nadal leads the head to head 23-21 going into the final but Djokovic has won 6 of the last 7.

Overall Head to Head:
Nadal 23 Djokovic 21

Head to Head on Hard Courts:
Djokovic 14 Nadal 7

Fractional Betting Odds (Ladbrokes)
Djokovic 1/9
Nadal 11/2

Photos:
Nadal – Ian Gampon (Creative Commons)
Djokovic – Marianne Bevis (Creative Commons)

 

[Moxie]

I hope they can get back to their great rivalry, but this one is not even going to be close.  Nadal is far from his best, and Djokovic is in full confidence mode and at the top of his game.

 

[britbox]

Yeah, looks nailed on for Nole. I think this one is over in straight sets.

 

[Denis]

After this match the h2h will be 22-23. One more to go to equalize.

 

[Front242]

I give Nadal maximum 5-6 games here tops.

 

[britbox]

<cite>@Front242 said:</cite>
I give Nadal maximum 5-6 games here tops.

Ouch!

 

[Billie]

What a great first point.

 

[britbox]

Who are you rooting for Billie?  ;-)

 

[britbox]

Nole consolidates the break.

 

[Billie]

@britbox take a guess funny man.  I'll be rooting for Nole even when he stops playing professionally.

 

[Billie]

Rafa held, I think this will be tighter than people think.  Rafa is not as worn out as he was sometimes after gruelling seasons in the past and he is clearly trying to be more offensive.

 

[britbox]

Good hold to love by Rafa.

 

[Billie]

Some nice rallies between the two.   Wow, great rallies in fact.

 

[britbox]

Heck of a hold by Novak.  The match still hasn't ramped up.

 

[Billie]

What a great point by both.

 

[Billie]

Rafa was 40:0 up and Nole was able to break.  He needed to hold there, really.  This set might be lost for him now.

 

[MikeOne]

Nole is too rock solid... against Ferrer and today, he's not hitting many winners; in fact, hitting more unforced errors but he returns everything well, defends well and hard to beat, even below his best. Nadal is not playing badly but you can see he thirsts for a big win to truly believe he can compete with Novak.

 

[britbox]

First set Novak.  Pretty comfortable.

Not sure what Rafa can do here to work a way back into this...

 

[Billie]

<cite>@britbox said:</cite>
First set Novak.  Pretty comfortable.

Not sure what Rafa can do here to work a way back into this...

For one, he has to believe.  And then he needs some help from Nole.   We'll see.  I think this is Rafa's first tournament where he looked better than on any other hard court this season.

 

[MikeOne]

Nole is not at his very best, he's there for the taking if Nadal can serve better...  If Nadal can get more free points on his serve, he's playing well enough from baseline to give Novak trouble. The problem is his serve, IMO, or lack thereof.