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Berdych won just one of the 18 duels they played so far

Apart from the impressive head-to-head score, Đoković is also favored by the much better impression he left here so far. Berdych also has a hard time against the best players; despite beating Nadal in Australia the progress he was expected to make in that respect is still not there

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After winning his fifth title in the first Grand Slam of the season, Đoković settled at home with his recently arrived little boy. He pointed out nothing is as satisfying for him right now as those moments, but they soon came to an end. He was traditionally slotted to appear int his tournament, where he had some good memories. He won the title four times and never left before the quarterfinal.

He got through the quarterfinal again, even more, charged through it. After some slight problems with adapting against Pospisil and a decisive performance against Golubev came an even more impressive victory, different as it was not expected. He faced off against Ilhan, a Turkish qualifier who won his first ATP victory in four seasons here. The victory against Zverev had a positive impact and obviously propelled him to his greatest career victory (Lopez), which won him his first ATP quarterfinal. He was rewarded with a central arena match against the currently top ranked played in the world, undoubtedly far too big a bite to swallow.

Although he said he just wants to enjoy the match, Đoković was ruthless and did not give him much to enjoy, deciding to make the most of the draw he was given. Everything was over in just 40 minutes, and he won almost double the points his opponent had (55-28). As expected, he dominated all segments of the match, but the biggest difference was in long rallies. He allowed his opponent just two second serve points, while he won over 50% of his. He lost a total of four first serve points (85%).

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-He has no experience with matches like this and I took advantage of that right away. I pulled off to a big lead early in the match and held on to it, controlling the course of the match and not allowing him to spread his wings- commented Novak on his quarterfinal match.

That finally put an end to the easier tasks and a draw he really cannot complain about. The same draw however now puts him against a player whose ranking matches this stage of the tournament, Tomas Berdych. The Czech has been playing a bit different, one could say smarter tennis, but some habits die hard. Despite his great form, he is still without a title, and has played those (these) matches against top players just like before.

He came here after taking a week of following the defeat in the Rotterdam final against Wawrinka. There was plenty of time to adapt therefore, but for some reason he still did not live up to the expectations. He did win all three matches, but is playing a step below his average and one could conclude that he's mainly getting through on confidence. He almost lost a set against Chardy in the first round, and then won the next two matches in three sets. Against Bolelli he could not get a break points in the first two sets, and then won the last set without losing a game, and we saw a very similar scenario against Stakhovski as well.

It took him almost two hours to beat the Ukrainian, who has been playing great these past few weeks, in a match which once again saw a black period for Berdych. He lost the second set again, with a double fault on a set point for the opponent. However he rallied his forces and performed well in the last set, winning the match with two breaks.

-I think the crucial thing today was my game-plan. I knew what to expect from him and set myself the right way- said the Czech after a match in which he had some very good stats (35W/21UE, 81% success after first serve, 10 aces).

This brings him to another semifinal at Dubai, but he still hasn't manage to defend his last year achievement. One gets the feeling he will hardly do so, as Novak seems to be impressive so far and it's common knowledge that berdych does not do best against the best (apart from Nadal). The past figures tell us Đoković is even scarier than Nadal for him, as he lost just once against Berdych in the 18 duels they played.