MONTE CARLO: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic overcame a strong challenge from Rafael Nadal to reach the Monte Carlo Masters final with a 6-3, 6-3 win on Saturday.

Djokovic, who extended his current winning streak to 16 matches, will face sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych as he bids for a second title at the clay-court Masters.

With Prince Albert among the onlookers, both players produced some stunning tennis as Nadal showed glimpses of his old self, mixing aggression and superb defensive shots.

But the Spaniard, who has been struggling to get back to his best after awrist injuryand an appendectomy, was not consistent enough to deny Djokovic a shot at his fourth Masters title in a row.

Djokovic trails Nadal 20-23 in their career series but has now won five of their last six meetings. They last played in the 2014 Roland Garros final, won by Nadal.

Earlier, Berdych swept past local favourite Gael Monfils 6-1, 6-4 in just over an hour to reach the final for the first time.

Czech Berdych breezed through the opening set without facing a single break point while Monfils, who beat Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov en route to the semi-finals in the European claycourt season’s opening tournament, offered more resistance in the second set but made too many unforced errors.

Berdych now has a 6-1 record against 14th-seeded Frenchman Monfils who came back from an injury absence late last month.

Berdych will be playing in his third final of the season after losing title bids in Doha and Rotteredm.

“I’m really glad to be in this final,” said Berdych, who kept Monfils from becoming the first Frenchman into the final in the principality since Cedric Pioline, a champion a decade and a half ago.

“My serve was working well and was key for me. I’m so happy to have won, this is something that I’ve always had in my mind at this event.”

Monfils added: “It’s always difficult when I’m up against Tomas, I can’t find the proper way to play him. Hopefully I’ll find the solution one day.

“Even when I served well, he was retuning hard and deep. He reads my serve very well.”

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2015

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