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Djokovic to meet Nadal in China Open final
Beijing: World No.1 Novak Djokovic will face No.8 Rafael Nadal in a blockbuster final at the China Open after beating David Ferrer 6-2, 6-3 here on Saturday in the semi-finals.
Spaniard Nadal leads 23-21 in their head to head meetings, but it is Djokovic who has prevailed in six of their past seven contests. Djokovic is also on a 28-match winning streak at the venue and in the 2013 final here beat Nadal to clinch the title.
Nadal reached the final earlier on Saturday, beating Italy’s Fabio Fognini 7-5 6-3.
Djokovic has won 25 successive sets in Beijing and delivered another superb performance to beat Ferrer in 74 minutes.
Djokovic lost serve for the first time this week in the first set, but won 57 percent of points on Ferrer’s serve as he broke the Spaniard three times to seal the opener.
There was just one more blip for Djokovic as he was broken when serving for the match at 5-2 in the second set – making Ferrer the first player this week to get more than two games in a set against the Serb.
But Djokovic was swiftly back in control and broke Ferrer in the following game to claim his 67th victory of the season.
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.