Novak Djokovic Rallies Past Rafael Nadal to Draw level with Spain at ATP Cup 2020 Finals

World No.2 Novak Djokovic cruises past his arch-rival Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-6(4) in the second singles tie of the ATP Cup 2020 finals between Spain and Serbia. With this victory, Djokovic takes the match to the deciding doubles rubber for the first ATP Cup title.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion also extends his winning streak to 9-0 against the Spaniard on hard courts. He also improves his overall head-to-head record against Nadal to 29-26.

In their 55th meeting, Djokovic hit a total of 12 aces and won 84 percent of the 1st serve points. He also dominated Nadal on 2nd serve returns as he won 53 percent of them.

Novak Djokovic dominated the opening set

Djokovic started the match on the right foot as he took the first game on Nadal’s serve after two breakpoints. The Spaniard was back on track as he held his next serve at love.

However, Novak Djokovic broke Nadal again at 5-2 and secured the opening set 6-2 within a flash in 40 minutes. The Serbian won 3 consecutive games, winning 11 of the last 13 points.

Djokovic edged Nadal to win the match

Rafael Nadal earned three breakpoints in the sixth game as he went up 40-0 on Djokovic’s serve. However, the Serb denied his opponent all the three break chances before saving another one to hold a crucial serve.

https://twitter.com/TennisTV/status/1216310747996807168?s=19

https://twitter.com/ATPTour_ES/status/1216316103770562562?s=19

The set then went to the tiebreaker as both the players held their serves till 6-6. In the tiebreaker, Djokovic edged Nadal to win the set 7-6 and win the match in almost 2 hours.

In the deciding doubles, Feliciano Lopez will pair with Pablo Carreno Busta against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki.

Earlier, Roberto Bautista Agut gave Spain a flying start after defeating Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 6-1 in the first singles rubber of the ATP Cup 2020 finals.