Daily Briefing - No. 1 Nadal & No. 2 Djokovic In Dream Championship

© Getty ImagesNovak Djokovic is going for back-to-back Indian Wells and Miami titles.

A dream final between the Top 2 players on the ATP World Tour is set for Sunday at the Sony Ericsson Open, with a World No. 1 looking to win his first Miami title and a World No. 2 trying for a fourth straight title this year. Between both both players, they have held 87 of 88 service games and dropped one set in 10 combined matches. It is the first time since 1995 in Miami the top two players are meeting in the final. That year No. 2 Andre Agassi defeated No. 1 Pete Sampras in a third set tie-break.

In a highly-anticipated match on Friday night, Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer, 63 62, in a match between two of the all-time greats. Nadal has lost one set en route, to Tomas Berdych in the quarters, and he’s held serve 47 of 48 games. The No. 1-ranked Spaniard  will try to stop the Djokovic winning streak, having fallen to him in three sets in the Indian Wells final two weeks ago. Nadal, who was runner-up in Miami in 2005 (l. to Federer) and ’08 (l. to Davydenko), is trying to become the first Spanish man to win the title in tournament  history (since 1985). He is 43-14 in career ATP World Tour finals (including 18-7 in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals) and is seeking his first title since last October in Tokyo.

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World No. 2 Novak Djokovic, reached the final with a 63 61 win over Mardy Fish. After winning his first three tournaments of the year at the Australian Open (his second Grand Slam title), Dubai and Indian Wells, Djokovic has extended his perfect start to the season to 23-0 (25-0 going back to ’10 Davis Cup final) and he’s won an incredible 57 of 62 sets during the streak. He’s held serve all 40 games (saving 13 break points) while only dropping 18 games in five matches (his toughest match was a 64 62 quarter-final win over Anderson). He has continued the intriguing pattern of performing well here in odd years, having won this title in 2007 and reaching the final in 2009, and now another final in 2011 (contrasted with opening round losses in 2006, ‘08 and ‘10). Djokovic is trying to be the first player to win Indian Wells and Miami in the same year since Federer did it in 2006. Djokovic is 21-13 in ATP World Tour finals (6-6 in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals).

Nadal leads their head-to-head, 16-8, and the Spaniard is 11-0 on other surfaces (9-0 on clay, 2-0 on grass) but  Djokovic is 8-5 on hard courts, including a 46 63 62 win in the final of Indian Wells two weeks ago, as well as a 63 64 win in their only previous meeting in Miami (in the 2007 quarter-finals). Nadal has a 5-1 mark in finals.

After his semi-final win Friday afternoon, Djokovic didn’t know who he would face in the final - Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer. “Miami is a great city. I won my first ATP Masters 1000 title here and definitely have beautiful memories from this event,” Djokovic said. “Whoever I play, I obviously won’t feel like a favorite on the court. It’s a final, so in order for me to win I will have to be on the top of my game.”

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner:  $611,000 and 1,000 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up: $298,200 and 600 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY –
Nadal:  Appearing in his 58th ATP World Tour level final………..……..He is 43-14 in finals  
    Appearing in his 26th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final…....He is 18-7 in finals
Djokovic: Appearing in his 35th ATP World Tour level final……………….He is 21-13 in finals
    Appearing in his 13th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final…….He is 6-6 in finals

STREAK UPDATE -- Djokovic enters with the third-longest winning streak to start a season in the past 30 years, 23 wins in a row, behind Ivan Lendl in 1986 and John McEnroe in 1984. Here are the best starts since 1981:
No.                                        Year
39   John McEnroe                  1984  19   McEnroe            1985
25   Ivan Lendl                       1986  17   Pete Sampras     1997
23   Novak Djokovic                2011  16   Roger Federer    2006

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP FEDEX ATP HEAD2HEADS

(1)Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs (2) Novak Djokovic (SRB) Nadal Leads 16-8
06 Roland Garros (France) Clay QF Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4 ret
07 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells  Hard Final Rafael Nadal 6-2 7-5
07 Sony Ericsson Open - Miami  Hard QF Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-4
07 ATP Masters Series Rome (Italy) Clay QF Rafael Nadal 6-2 6-3
07 Roland Garros (France) Clay SF Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-4 6-2
07 Wimbledon (Great Britain) Grass SF Rafael Nadal 3-6 6-1 4-1 ret
07 ATP Masters Series Montreal Hard SF Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-3
07 Tennis Masters Cup (China) Hard RR Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4
08 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells  Hard SF Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-2
08 ATP Masters Series Hamburg  Clay SF Rafael Nadal 7-5 2-6 6-2
08 Roland Garros (France) Clay SF Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-2 7-6(3)
08 London / Queen's Club  Grass Final Rafael Nadal 7-6(6) 7-5
08 ATP Masters Series Cincinnati  Hard SF Novak Djokovic 6-1 7-5
08 Beijing Olympics (China) Hard SF Rafael Nadal 6-4 1-6 6-4
09 ESP vs. SRB WG 1st RD (Spain) Clay RR Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4 6-1
09 ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo  Clay Final Rafael Nadal 6-3 2-6 6-1
09 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome Clay Final Rafael Nadal 7-6(2) 6-2
09 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid Clay SF Rafael Nadal 3-6 7-6(5) 7-6(9)
09 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati (U.S.A.)Hard SF Novak Djokovic 6-1 6-4
09 ATP Masters 1000 Paris (France) Hard SF Novak Djokovic 6-2 6-3
09 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals  Hard RR Novak Djokovic 7-6(5) 6-3
10 US Open (U.S.A.) Hard Final Rafael Nadal 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2
10 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals  Hard RR Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-2
11 ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells Hard Final Novak Djokovic 4-6    6-3   6-2

                             Rafael Nadal Novak Djokovic
 Sets Won:                     37               22
 Tiebreak Sets Won:        5                 1

 Match Wins By Surface:
 Clay:                            9                 0
 Hard:                           5                 8
 Grass:                          2                 0

FedEx ATP Head2Head Summary:
• Nadal has won five of the six previous final meetings with lone loss in Indian Wells two weeks ago
• This is their 14th meeting in an ATP Masters 1000 tournament (Djokovic leads 7-6)
• The winner of the opening set has gone on to win 21 of the previous 24 meetings
• Djokovic is trying to become third player to beat Nadal at least twice in a final (Federer-6, Davydenko-3)

NADAL FASTFACTS

Tournament Highlights:
• The 24-year-old Spaniard is appearing in his third final in eight years…He was runner-up in 2005 (l. to Federer in five sets) and in 2008 (l. to Davydenko)…Has a 26-7 career mark in Miami
• A Spanish man has never won the singles title in tournament history (since 1985)…Besides his two runner-up showings, Carlos Moya (2003) and Sergi Bruguera (1997) were also finalists
• Last year he reached the semi-finals, losing to eventual champ Andy Roddick in three sets
• He has dropped one en route to the final, in his 62 36 63 victory over No. 7 Tomas Berdych on Thursday night (and lost his serve for only time in second set)…He opened with a 64 64 win over No. 1 Kei Nishikori and followed with a 63 63 victory over countryman Feliciano Lopez and then 61 62 over No. 21 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov
• Has held serve 47 of 48 games thus far (98%), saving 12 of 13 break points (92%)

2011 Highlights:
F: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Djokovic); SF: Doha (l Davydenko); QF: Aust. Open (l Ferrer)

2011 in Review:
• The World No. 1 has a 19-3 match record on the season and he’s appearing in his second straight final …Two weeks ago he lost in the final at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic in three sets) on Mar. 20…His last title came in Tokyo on Oct. 10, 2010
• He opened year with a semi-final in Doha (l. to Davydneko) and followed with a quarter-final at the
Australian Open where he injured his left adductor early in match against countryman David
Ferrer (lost 64 62 63)
• Last month he led Spain to a 4-1 first round Davis Cup victory in Belgium by winning both of his singles matches (d. Ruben Bemelmans in second rubber, O. Rochus in dead rubber)…In July, Spain will travel to Austin, Texas to face the U.S.in the quarter-finals
• Has ranked No. 1 for past 43 weeks (since July 7, 2010 after Wimbledon) and 89 overall since first taking over the top spot on Aug. 18, 2008

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History
• The all-time leader with 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles (since 1990) is 18-7 in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals…He has a 195-39 career match record…Looking to win his seventh different title
• He’s won at least two titles in each of the past six years (2005-10)…Won a personal-best four in 2005 and three each from 2007-10…He captured his 18th career title at age 23 and Agassi won his 17th title at age 34 in 2004…Has reached the final in eight of the current nine Masters 1000 finals (except Cincinnati)…He also won the former ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Hamburg in 2008

DJOKOVIC FASTFACTS

Tournament Highlights:
• The 23-year-old Serb has a 17-4 career mark here and he’s appearing in his third final…He won the title in 2007 (d. No. 2 Nadal in QF, Murray in SF, d. Canas in F) and was runner-up in ’09 (l. to Murray)
• En route to the final, has dropped only 18 games, posting wins over Denis Istomin 60 61, wild card James Blake 62 60, countryman/No. 16 Viktor Troicki 63 62, Kevin Anderson 64 62 and No. 14 seed Mardy Fish 63 61
• Has not been broken during the tournament, holding all 40 games and saving 13 break points…Also leads in return games won (20 of 38, 53%), converting 20 of 31 break points (65%) and points won returning first serve (47%)

2011 Highlights:
W: Australian Open (d Murray); Dubai (d Federer); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (d Nadal)

2011 in Review:
• The Serb is on a career-best 25-match winning streak (23-0 this year) and he’s attempting to earn his fourth straight title in ATP World Tour level play (57-5 in sets)…His overall streak, which started in Davis Cup final (vs. France), is the longest since Nadal won 32 straight in summer of 2008… His last loss came to Federer in the semis at Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London on Nov. 27, 2010
• He is coming off his third crown of the season in Indian Wells (d. No. 2 Federer in SF, No. 1 Nadal in F) …He has a 21-13 career mark in finals and his three titles  are tied with Soderling for the most on the ATP World Tour this year…He is 7-0 vs. Top 10 opponents this season (4-8 all of last year)
• Prior to Indian Wells he captured his third straight title in Dubai (d. Federer) on Feb. 26
• At the Australian Open, he rolled to the title dropping only one set, that coming to Croat Ivan Dodig in a second set tie-break in the second round…After that, beat countryman and No. 27 Viktor Troicki (now No. 18), No. 14 Nicolas Almagro, No. 6 Tomas Berdych, No. 2 Federer and No. 5 Murray…He is the sixth active player on the ATP World Tour to win at least 20 career titles

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History:
• Has a career record of 116-39 and 6-6 in finals…Has reached eight different finals in his career (except Shanghai)…In 2007, reached his first final in Indian Wells (l. to Nadal) and followed with his first title at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami (d. Canas)…Also won in Montreal in ‘07, defeating the Top 3 players in succession – No. 3 Roddick (QF), No. 2 Nadal (SF) and No. 1 Federer (F)
• In 2008, won titles in Indian Wells (d. Fish), Rome and runner-up in Cincinnati (l. to Murray) and in ’09, won in Paris (d. Monfils)

WINNING TRIO – Djokovic is attempting to become the fourth player since 1990 to win the three biggest titles (Australian Open, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells, Miami) in the first three months:
                      Year
Roger Federer  2006
Andre Agassi  2001
Pete Sampras  1994

ATP WORLD TOUR MASTERS 1000 TITLE LEADERS -- Nadal is attempting to capture his 19th career
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title while Djokovic his aiming for his seventh. Here are the leaders (since 1990):

                      No. 
Rafael Nadal    18 
Andre Agassi   17     
Roger Federer  17 
Pete Sampras   11  
Thomas Muster 8
Michael Chang   7
Novak Djokovic 6
Andy Murray     6
 
WINNING INDIAN WELLS, MIAMI IN SAME YEAR – Djokovic is trying to become the first player to win Indian Wells and Miami in the same year since Federer in 2006. Federer is one of six players to win consecutive titles in Indian Wells and Miami since 1990:

Player                   Back-to-Back Titles
Roger Federer  2006 Indian Wells, Miami
Roger Federer  2005 Indian Wells, Miami
Andre Agassi            2001 Indian Wells, Miami
Marcelo Rios            1998 Indian Wells, Miami
Pete Sampras  1994 Indian Wells, Miami
Michael Chang          1992 Indian Wells, Miami
Jim Courier                1991 Indian Wells, Miami