Ferrer started 2012 by participating in the Mubadala World Tennis Championship held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He defeated world no. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and world no. 2 Rafael Nadal to reach his first final in the exhibition tournament. In the final, he lost to world no. 1 Novak Djokovic. He won his first tournament of 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand at the Heineken Open ATP 250 (his third Auckland title and 12th Tour title) over Olivier Rochus. At the 2012 Australian Open, Ferrer was seeded fifth, and he defeated Rui Machado, Ryan Sweeting, 27th seed Juan Ignacio Chela, and 17th seed Richard Gasquet on his way to the quarterfinals. He then faced world no. 1 Novak Djokovic and lost in straight sets.