DUBAI // It is the final the tournament had wanted, the final the seedings suggested most likely and the final history dictated a certainty.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic, a four-time winner at the Aviation Club, will face six-time victor and world No 2 Roger Federer in Saturday night's Dubai Tennis Championships climax.
Between them, the two men have lifted the silver dhow trophy in 10 of the past 12 years.
On Friday, a few hours after reigning champion Federer had beaten Borna Coric 6-2, 6-1, Djokovic was made to recover from a mid-match blip to beat Tomas Berdych 6-0, 5-7, 6-4.
Speaking about tonight’s final, the Serbian said: “If you want to win against Roger you have to play your best tennis, especially here because this is a kind of surface and conditions that suit his game.
“We played the final in 2011 and the semi-finals last year, so I look forward to it.
“It’s always a tough match. I need to be ready for the battle and ready to stay focused throughout the whole match.”
Focus appeared one of Djokovic’s few failings last night.
The last time he had met Berdych was at the ATP World Tour Finals where the Serb comfortably won 6-2, 6-2.
Last night, he started where he had left off, breaking the world No 8 at the first opportunity, then again at the next, and again in the fifth.
As far as first sets go, it was as conclusive a beating as Berdych had taken since losing in last September’s Beijing final.
His tormentor that day? One guess.
Ruthless and unforgiving, Djokovic was channelling that Chinese performance again.
In claiming a perfect first set in just 23 minutes, he did so by getting 80 per cent of his first serves in, with a 100 per cent success rate on his second serve and claiming 12 of 15 service points.
Berdych said he felt his opponent was “on another planet” in the first set and that “there is nothing you can do, but just wait and be patient”.
As Berdych had hoped, Djokovic’s level could not be maintained.
The Czech, who had not played badly, improved considerably in the second and broke three times to level the match.
With Djokovic, who had slipped and called a medical timeout, looking a little shaky early in the third set, the result looked in question.
Yet, as world No 1s tend to do, he recovered his fight and took the third set with a break in the fifth.
“I just wanted to stay on that [first set] level, but it was hard,” Djokovic said.
“I started making some unforced errors, backed up a little bit, less first serves in.
“Then he stepped in. From that moment on it was an even match, a lot of unforced errors from my side.
“I just wasn’t feeling the ball great in the third set, but somehow managed to hang in there.”
For Federer, who has a 19-17 head-to-head record over Djokovic, winning in the city that he calls home for six months of the year is an annual objective, yet he conceded he arrived here simply looking to build up some match practice.
“Clearly Dubai is a very important tournament for me, but I’m coming from a more than two-week vacation, so I’m very positively surprised how well I’m actually playing,” Federer said.
“From that side I’m very excited that it’s going so well, but I know the final is going to be a whole lot tougher.
“Novak has really dominated again since the end of last year when Paris came around.
“He showed up when it mattered the most and that’s what you can expect from him.”
The action at the Aviation Club tonight has long been sold-out, but despite Federer experiencing strong home support in the emirate, Djokovic dismissed suggestions he might be at a slight disadvantage.
“Of course he has support anywhere he goes in the world. He’s Roger Federer, with all his accomplishments and everything,” Djokovic said. “We all know that he enjoys a lot of support, but I also have decent support and hopefully we can create a quality match for the crowd to enjoy.”
Not since 2006 have the world’s two top-ranked players met in the Dubai final.
It is the match the tournament has been waiting for.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae