World No. 1 Novak Djokovic capped off his debut with a $250,000 winner-take-all prize at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship on Saturday, cruising past David Ferrer 6-2, 6-1 to win the exhibition event in Abu Dhabi. “I must say I'm really happy with the way I'm playing,” said Djokovic. “Playing against the top players in the world in this way gives me a lot of confidence.”
Djokovic previously defeated third-ranked Roger Federer and Gael Monfils. “Usually at this stage, you are trying to find your speed on the court, agility, just dynamics of every stroke,” the Serbian said. “But I found it already, to be honest, right away after the first match.”
Ferrer upset two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals, but was unable to settle into the match with Djokovic. “I tried but maybe I played at a deficit all the time,” said Ferrer. “I fought, but with Djokovic at the moment, it's difficult to beat him… He was better than me. He played a really good match.”
In the third-place match, World No. 2 Nadal defeated Federer 6-1, 7-5. “It was a positive match,” stated Nadal. “I played better than yesterday and that was the most important [thing].”
Both Nadal and Federer will head to Doha for the 20th staging of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, which begins Monday. The Swiss is the defending champion, having topped Nikolay Davydenko in the 2011 final.
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