Dominant Djokovic victorious in Masters Cup final
Sunday, 16 Nov 2008 12:09
Djokovic regained his best form in time for the Masters Cup
Novak Djokovic has won the Masters Cup title for the first time in his career following a dominant straight sets victory over Nikolay Davydenko.
Djokovic raced through the first set and although the Russian was more competitive in the second set the Serbian still won 6-1 7-5.
The world number three also picked up some bonus prize money after going through the entire tournament unbeaten.
Davydenko had been in excellent form yesterday to beat Andy Murray in his semi-final, while Djokovic had had to fight back from a set behind to beat Gilles Simon.
However, it was the Serbian who enjoyed the best start. Having already beaten Davydenko in the group stages Djokovic had the confidence to go for his shots more.
That provided instant dividends as he went 3-0 ahead. Djokovic's attacking tennis reaped more rewards as he broke Davydenko for the second time to take a commanding 5-0 lead.
The world number five eventually held serve and held two break points in the seventh game but Djokovic was able to close out the set.
Davydenko then handed Djokovic another break at the start of the second set. In game five the Serbian could have taken a 4-1 lead but Davydenko somehow managed to hold on.
At 5-3 Djokovic earned two match points on the Russian's serve but could not take advantage. That seemed like it could have been costly when the Russian broke back to make it 5-5.
But Djokovic, whose returns had been excellent throughout the match, was able to break back immediately.
In the 12th game the world number three made no mistake and was able to add the Masters Cup to the Australian Open he won at the start of the season.