A dream final has been set up at the inaugural ATP Cup after Spain saw off Australia in Sydney on Saturday night.
Rafael Nadal’s stunning 4-6 7-5 6-1 win over a gallant Alex de Minaur clinched a 2-0 win for Spain over the Aussies at Ken Rosewall Arena, sending them through to the final.
There Spain will meet Serbia, who on Saturday afternoon beat Russia in a similarly absorbing clash.
Nadal and Djokovic will clash for a staggering 55th time in what will be a rematch of their Australian Open 2019 final.
World No.2 Novak Djokovic guided his team into Sunday’s decider following a pulsating 6-1 5-7 6-4 win over fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev.
Dusan Lajovic opened the tie for Serbia with a 7-5 7-6(1) win over Karen Khachanov.
The Australia-Spain clash looked set to require a doubles match to break the deadlock when De Minaur overwhelmed Nadal in the first set and matched the world No.1 stroke-for-stroke in the second.
Just scintillating from both men ?@RafaelNadal & @alexdeminaur produce another point to savour! #ATPCuppic.twitter.com/me0cm9UFFf
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 11, 2020
In the first singles match of the evening, Roberto Bautista Agut was practically flawless in dismantling Nick Kyrgios, who despite improving as the match wore on and throwing his full force behind serves and forehands simply could not penetrate the Spaniard’s game.
Yet Nadal eventually found his, and after breaking serve for the first time in the match in the 12th game of the second set to take it, he resembled a runaway train in the deciding set.
“It was tough at the beginning of the match as Alex was playing at a very high level and my energy was a little lower than usual. Yesterday was a very long day in heavy conditions,” Nadal said.
“It's going to be a super tough final against Serbia. Novak likes to play here and Serbia has a great team and is playing very well.
“But Roberto played an amazing match this afternoon and we have a good team, so we are ready for it.”
Formidable finalists
Bautista Agut has won five matches at this event without dropping a set so far, and faces Lajovic, who has gone a similarly-impressive 4-1 in ATP Cup singles play.
Nadal also has a record of 4-1 and will face the undefeated Djokovic in the second singles match of Sunday night’s final.
Yet Djokovic came close to defeat Saturday; he was given an almighty scare by Medvedev, last year’s US Open finalist.
“Exciting, exhausting, joyful, dreadful all at once,” Djokovic said when describing the match.
“At one point I think we both refused to miss from the baseline, so it was a lot of rallies and it was very exhausting. Very physical battle, but also (a) mental battle.”
“(It was) definitely one of the most exciting matches I have played against him or any other top player [in the] past few years.”
Spain and Serbia will meet on Sunday at Ken Rosewall Arena at 6.30pm AEDT.