Serb notice: Novak Djokovic was in 'unbelievable' form according to his vanquished opponent Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic brilliantly defeated Rafael Nadal to reach the final of the BNP Paris Masters yesterday.

The 6-2 6-3 success represented a sixth win in 20 meetings for the Serbian at the expense of the world number two – and a first outside north America. However, it was a second successive victory for Djokovic, who came out on top the last time the pair met – in Cincinnati in August.

In the process, third-seeded Djokovic denied Nadal the 400th singles win of his career Saturday. The 22-year-old also advanced to his fifth ATP World Tour final of the year [0-4 record] with victory in 77 minutes. Last week he captured the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel trophy with a three sets win over Roger Federer. He leads the ATP World Tour for match wins in 2009, with a 75-18 record (50-10 on hard courts) and has a 4-5 record in title-matches.

Djokovic broke serve to love in the sixth and eighth games of the 34-minute first set. Nadal, runner-up to David Nalbandian two years ago, won eight of 18 service points, including three aces, and 12 points overall.

Djokovic was in control throughout however, with an impressive backhand cross-court shot in the third game serving notice of his intentions.

The Serbian took advantage of his first opportunity to break in the sixth game and repeated the feat in the eighth to make sure he took control of the match.

After being broken in the first game of the second set there was no going back for Nadal, who was struggling to compete with the Serbian's energy and movement. Nadal kept fighting, but never looked likely to reach his first indoor final since February at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

Although a sweet forehand in the ninth game saved the Spaniard from facing match point, it was not long before he was facing two of them when he flopped a return into the net.

And on his second serve Djokovic produced a forehand which was too hot for Nadal, wrapping up victory in 76 minutes.

Despite hitting fewer aces and making more unforced errors than his opponent, Djokovic was a worthy winner and deservedly claimed a final meeting against either Radek Stepanek or Gael Monfils.

Djokovic said afterwards: "I didn't know this is the first time I've beaten him outside north America, so I'm happy to have won in another continent against him."

Four-time French Open champion Nadal, who has yet to win the Paris indoor crown, never looked like challenging Djokovic's superiority.

The Serb sealed victory with a superb forehand on the first match point after just 76 minutes.

"I've never played against Djokovic when he's been at this level before," said Nadal. "He played very well, unbelievable in my opinion.

"When Novak plays at that level it's very difficult to play him, especially on a hard, fast court."

Monte-Carlo resident Djokovic improved to 33-41 lifetime against Top 10 opponents in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, including a 13-11 mark this year.

Nadal, 23, has not won an ATP World Tour title since May, when he clinched his fourth trophy at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. He dropped to a 64-11 match record (5-3 in finals) and a 14-8 record against Top 10 opponents this season. He now stands 945 points behind Federer in the battle to be crowned year-end number-one in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings.