Novak dazzles into final

World number one Novak Djokovic pulled out a near-perfect performance as he downed the resurgent Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-3 in their World Tour Finals last-four clash on Saturday.

Djokovic was beaten by Roger Federer in the group stages of the season-ending tournament, disputed on a hard court between the year's top eight players at London's O2 Arena.

Spanish fifth seed Nadal won all three of his group matches to reach the semi-finals but there was little he could do to stop the defending champion in this sort of form.

Djokovic will play either Federer or his Swiss compatriot Stan Wawrinka, the French Open champion, in Sunday's final.

If the Serb lifts the trophy for a fifth time, he will become the first player to win the Tour Finals four years in a row.

Djokovic, the Australian, Wimbledon and US Open champion, hit 24 winners to nine from Nadal, who could not fashion a break point throughout the match.

While Federer and Nadal's epic clashes down the years have led their rivalry to be regarded as the sport's must-see match-up, the Spaniard's duels with Djokovic have grown increasingly ferocious since their first meeting way back in 2006.

Nadal held a 23-22 edge in his head-to-head record with Djokovic going into the match, but the Serb had won seven of the last eight meetings, including the quarter-final victory that ended the Spaniard's long reign as French Open champion earlier this year.

After a miserable 2015 campaign, Nadal had looked somewhere close to his best over the last week as he moved into the semi-finals with three successive wins.

But the world number five had not done his chances of defeating Djokovic any favours by engaging in a bruising marathon victory over David Ferrer in a meaningless group match just 24 hours earlier.

While Nadal was pushing his body to the limits, Djokovic was at home relaxing having finished his group campaign on Thursday.