Novak Djokovic v Rafael ATP China Open Final betting tips — Back Djokovic to crush Nadal and claim sixth Beijing title

• Novak Djokovic has never lost in Beijing
• Djokovic has beaten Nadal in last two meetings
• Serb should claim an easy win over Spaniard in Sunday’s China Open final

Novak Djokovic faces Rafael Nadal in the China Open final in Beijing on Sunday and it’s another chance for the Serb to exert his dominance over a player who is now barely even considered a rival.

Novak Djokovic claimed yet another comfortable win over David Ferrer on Saturday to reach his sixth Beijing Open final. The Serb has never lost a match in the Chinese capital and he’s not going to lose his first one against Rafael Nadal in Sunday’s final.

It’s doubtful whether Nadal will even manage to get more than the five games won by Ferrer (which is the most any player has taken from Djokovic all week). The Spaniard may be up to eighth in the world, and he may make the ATP World Tour Finals, but it’s not the same Nadal that won 14 Grand Slams and 27 Masters titles.

This year is the first that the 28-year-old has not won any of those tournaments and it’s by far the worst of Nadal’s career. He’s lost a total of 15 matches, which is bad, but more than that is the fact that he has been beaten by players not even in the top 10. Fabio Fognini, Dustin Brown, Feliciano Lopez, Alexander Dolgopolov and Fernando Verdasco have all beaten Nadal this season and it seems that whenever he’s up against a player with a weapon he can’t deal with it.

That’s a bad omen for a meeting with Novak Djokovic, whose whole game is a weapon. The Serb seems to have no weaknesses at the moment and he arguably deserves more recognition than he has received for his three Grand Slams (plus French Open final defeat) and five Masters titles.

Despite the fact that Djokovic has swept all before him, he’s only actually beaten Nadal twice in 2015. That’s more down to the fact that Nadal hasn’t been getting far enough in tournaments to meet the number one seed but when they have played it’s been easy for Djokovic. He won 6–3, 6–3 in Monte Carlo and then achieved a more comprehensive 7–5, 6–3, 6–1 win at the French Open. It could be an even wider margin on Sunday in Beijing, where the courts favour the Serb more than either of the other two venues.

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