win Saturday.
Djokovic, who extended his
current winning streak to 16 matches, will face sixth-seeded Tomas
Berdych as he bids for a second title at the clay-court Masters.
With
Prince Albert of Monaco among the onlookers, both players produced some
stunning tennis in the semifinal as Nadal showed glimpses of his old
self, mixing aggression and superb defensive shots.
But
the Spaniard, who has been struggling to get back to his best after
a wrist injury and an appendectomy, was not consistent enough to deny
Djokovic a shot at his fourth Masters title in a row.
Following
his title at the Paris Masters last year, Djokovic posted back-to-back
victories at Indian Wells and Miami and will try to become the first
player to win the first three Masters of the season.
Nadal
will rue his missed chances in the seventh game of the opening set,
when he was unable to seize the momentum after a stunning forehand down
the line that wrongfooted the Serb. Even Djokovic clapped his racket in
appreciation.
After Nadal earned a break
opportunity, another superb rally followed but this time Djokovic
prevailed, smashing a winner following an exchange of lobs.
Nadal
went through a bad patch in the next game as he missed an easy backhand
to hand Djokovic two break points. He saved the first one but shanked a
forehand into the net on the second.
The
second set was a tight affair, with Nadal fighting hard to stay in the
match. He saved two break points on his first service game but
Djokovic's aggression was finally rewarded after a tense seventh game.
Nadal cracked on his forehand to drop his serve and Djokovic broke again
in the ninth game to seal his 20th win in 43 matches with Nadal.
It was their first meeting since the Spaniard won his last big title with a win over Djokovic in last year's French Open final.
Earlier, Berdych overwhelmed Gael Monfis 6-1, 6-4 to advance to his first final in Monte Carlo.
Berdych immediately took control
from the baseline and Monfils struggled to cope with the fast pace
imposed by the big-hitting Czech. Monfils won just 11 points in a
lopsided first set before the Frenchman changed his strategy, using more
sliced shots to break up his opponent's rhythm. The move paid off early
in the second set when Monfils broke back to level at 1-1 as Berdych
made two forehand errors.
Monfils
failed to build on the momentum, though, dropping his next service game
as his hopes of becoming the first French player in 15 years to make
the final at the Country Club vanished.
"It's
always difficult when I'm up against Tomas, I can't find the proper way
to play him," said the 14th-seeded Monfils after his sixth loss in
seven matches against the Czech. "Hopefully I'll find the solution one
day."
Monfils, who was a
wild-card entry this week after recovering from a hip injury sooner than
expected, added that his poor percentage on his first serve was a
decisive factor.
"But even when I served well, he was retuning hard and deep," Monfils said. "He reads my serve very well."After hiring Andy Murray's former coach Dani Vallverdu, Berdych has been in excellent form this year, reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open and finishing runner-up in Doha and Rotterdam.
"The
best thing for me is that I can see the results behind it, which is
always very nice and always positive because it hasn't been a quite easy
decision to make that (coaching) change in the end of the last year,"
Berdych said. "I decided I still want to try to push myself higher and
give myself another chance, to try to compete with the best ones and
move myself higher and better. I think we (are) going the right way."
Source:AP
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