• Sony Ericsson Open

Nadal hammers disappointing Federer

Rafael Nadal embraces Roger Federer after match point © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Sony Ericsson Open seedings
  
• Profile: Novak Djokovic | Roger Federer | Mardy Fish | Rafael Nadal

Sony Ericsson Open seedings

Roger Federer looked a player in decline while Rafael Nadal appeared a man at his peak as Nadal reached the Sony Ericsson Open final with a 6-3 6-3 victory in Miami.

It will be the world No. 1 and 2 in the final after Novak Djokovic earlier disposed of Mardy Fish, and those top rankings could not be disputed after No. 3 Federer failed to put up a fight against Nadal in the latest of their 23 career meetings.

And worryingly for Federer fans, the great Swiss looked a beaten man even at times during the match, raising further doubt as to whether the 29-year-old will be able to force his way back into the top two after losing his place to Djokovic last month.

Federer held serve in the first game before Nadal rattled off the next three, and a further break to finish off the set gave the Spaniard the right to serve first in the second.

There Federer mounted his biggest challenge of the match, earning a break point in the first game of the new set but some luck with the net cord helped Nadal save.Nadal went on to hold and then win the next two games, taking a 3-0 lead.

The crowd tried to fire Federer but he did not respond to their urgings, either by gesture or performance, as his unforced error count reached 38 and Nadal grabbed his fourth break to finish it off.

In Friday's day session, Novak Djokovic extended his unbeaten run to a staggering 25 matches with victory over Mardy Fish.

Djokovic is unbeaten in 2011, winning three titles in as many months, and he experienced few troubles against Fish, who will be officially named American No. 1 on Monday. Fish had little answer to his more versatile Serbian opponent, losing 6-3 6-1 in an hour and 25 minutes.

The Miami event represents a major chance for world No. 2 Djokovic to gain ground in his pursuit of Nadal, who currently holds a buffer of almost 4,000 ranking points. Djokovic exited this competition in the second round last year, leaving him the majority of 1,000 points to earn with success this week.

Djokovic went into Friday's semi-final with a 5-0 record against Fish, with his most recent victory coming in the Australian Open. He had also dropped just 14 games throughout his run to the last four, refusing to concede his serve en route. That statistic was tested by Fish on four occasions, but each time the Serb found an extra gear.

Fish's own pre-match statistics also made for extremely healthy reading. The American's serve had been impressive all week, helped by 30 aces, as Richard Gasquet, Juan Martin Del Potro and David Ferrer all succumbed in straight sets. Reaching his third semi-final of the year, Fish had the confidence of knowing he had not lost any of his three previous Masters semi-finals.

Victory would have lifted Fish into the world's top 10, but he reacted poorly to a rain interruption to concede the crucial first set. With the scores at 2-2 at the resumption of play, Djokovic was forced to continue serving at 15-30 in the fifth game, which he negotiated successfully before immediately finding the only break of the set. Fish had the chance to hit back with Djokovic serving at 15-40 and 5-3, but he failed to put away the simplest of volleys with his opponent almost totally out of the point.

The second set was much more of a formality for Djokovic, who capitalised on Fish's slow approach to the net in order to break three times, sweeping him to his 23rd consecutive win of the season, and 25th since he last tasted defeat.

"I got saved by the rain, when I came back to court I was feeling much better, hitting the ball better," Djokovic told Sky Sports. "I'm not the freshest I've been, but I'm playing really well and I'm relying on my confidence. I feel exhausted after a tough couple of months, but mentally I'm motivated."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.