However, a netted backhand from the Spaniard brought up set point in the next game and Djokovic stepped up into the court to swipe away a crosscourt backhand winner.
Djokovic held serve easily at the start of the second before Nadal raced into a 40-0 lead on his serve.
However, that game would go on to last more than 10 minutes and see Nadal broken when he sliced a backhand into the tramlines. And yet Nadal broke straight back as his fighting qualities came to the fore.
He also fended off a 15-40 deficit in the next game and avoided being broken for the fourth time in a row. Perhaps more importantly, though, was the fact that Djokovic made four unforced errors in a row.
He also made three straight unforced errors when leading 40-0 in the next game as tiredness seemed to creep up on him, his three-hour epic semi-final against Andy Murray on Saturday starting to show in his legs. And yet he dug deep to hold serve.
The breaks eased up until Nadal had to serve to stay in the match. And the last game was a fitting finale to a wonderful encounter.
Nadal twice went long on the backhand to drop to 0-40 but a Djokovic error and some big hitting from the Spaniard brought it back to deuce.
However, Djokovic forced another championship point and this time, after a thrilling rally, he kept his nerve to pounce on a net-cord and fire away the winning shot. It was only Nadal's second ever defeat here.
AFP
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