RAFA Nadal will renew his rivalry with Novak Djokovic at the ATP World Tour Masters today as the resurgent Spaniard aims to join Andre Agassi as the only man to have completed the set of all of the top prizes in the sport. The 29-year-old from Mallorca maintained his perfect record at the O2 this year with a 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4 win against David Ferrer, a match which at two hours 37 minutes was the longest of the tournament thus far.

It leaves only a short turnaround until the 2pm start time of his semi-final with the World No 1, but tiredness was the last thing on the Spaniard's mind last night.

Instead an invigorated Nadal savoured the prospect of a record 46th meeting with the Serb, against whom he still leads the series 23-22, albeit having won just one their last eight matches.

However it ends, the match promises to be a treat for the Saturday afternoon crowd, just as it was yesterday when this dead rubber between Nadal and his countryman Ferrer turned into a minor classic.

The 29-year-old Mallorcan tends to have the upper hand against the already-eliminated veteran from Valencia and so it proved again, although he was certainly made to work for his money here.

Ideal preparation for the awesome challenge of taking on Djokovic or not, the Mallorcan professed himself delighted with his third straight win against a top eight player. "Maybe I will be tired," said Nadal. "But I am not worried about it. Two hundred points are not the same when you are No. 1 or No. 2 than when you are No. 5. Winning today is almost like winning a Masters 250 tournament. There were a lot of points to win today. So I fought to make that happen. Three straight wins against top-eight players, that's a great news for me."