IN a repeat of the Miami Open final from a couple of weeks earlier, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will face off in a one-against-two battle for the 2020 ATP Monte Carlo Masters final. In their most recent clash, it was Djokovic who got up 3-6 6-2 6-2 to claim the title, but with the Monte Carlo Masters on Nadal’s preferred surface of clay, it will make it all the more interesting. The match will mark the 57th time the pair has faced off, with Djokovic leading 30-26 in the current head-to-head stakes.

They reached the Monte Carlo Masters final by winning their respective semi-finals today. While both matches were straight sets wins, neither was won easily with third seed Dominic Thiem, and unseeded wildcard Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, putting up fights against the world’s best. Tsonga took it up to Djokovic for large portions of the match, taking the Serb to a tiebreaker in the first set before the class of Djokovic shone through. The world number one played back-to-back winners to separate himself from his opponent, gaining a mini-break in the tiebreaker and eventually saluting 7-5. He then broke early building on that momentum in the second set and did not allow Tsonga to break him, as he went on to win 7-6 6-3 in two hours and five minutes.

The Nadal and Thiem rivalry, particularly on clay continues to build, as the pair fought it out over a couple of tiebreakers. Whilst Nadal won both, the first being 7-5 and the second being 7-3, the Spaniard never had full control of the match. Thiem showed why he is so highly rated on the surface and has reached back-to-back Roland Garros finals. Nadal is incredibly difficult to beat on clay and it showed with the Spanish star winning 7-6 7-6 in a flat two hours to advance through to the final. Nadal will be looking for title number 86, while Djokovic searches for number 81 in the Monte Carlo Masters final.

SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated [WC] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 7-6 6-3
[2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) defeated [3] Dominic Thiem (AUT) 7-6 7-6