0
MONTREAL, Aug 13: Serbia's Novak Djokovic produced the performance of his career to beat world No 1 and defending champion Roger Federer 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 to win the Montreal Masters on Sunday.
After beating Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal on his way to the final, the third seed claimed the biggest scalp in tennis to secure his fourth title in 2007.
“This is the best tournament of my career,” Djokovic told the crowd.
“I won a (Masters) in Miami but here I beat the number three (Roddick) in the quarters, the number two (Nadal) in the semis and in the final, I beat the number one.
“I couldn't ask for more. I played some impressive tennis all week. This is a dream come true. And I hope he's not angry, but I'd like to say to Roger that he can't win everything, sometimes somebody else has to win.”
Federer had been the overwhelming favourite to win his third Masters crown in Canada in as many appearances but instead suffered his first defeat in five meetings against Djokovic after producing 48 unforced errors.
The 20-year-old from Belgrade attacked the Federer backhand relentlessly throughout, ripping forehands up the line for a series of winners.
He saved six set points in the first set before snatching it on a tiebreak 7-2.
The Swiss top seed lifted his game in the second set, breaking the Serb twice to level the contest.
Djokovic broke in the opening game of the third set only to let a 4-2 lead slip as the Swiss hit back to 4-4.
But the Serb, who returned to third in the rankings when the new list was released on Monday, held his nerve to win the tiebreak 7-2 and seal his second Masters Series title.
Federer praised Djokovic's performance.
“He is definitely one of the best players in the world and he deserved to win today,” he said.
LOS ANGELES: Ana Ivanovic continued her impressive form with a powerful 7-5, 6-4 victory over Nadia Petrova in the Los Angeles Classic final on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Serb, who reached this year's French Open final and Wimbledon semi-finals, moved up to a career high No 4 when the world rankings were released on Monday.
Ivanovic initially had trouble finding rhythm on her serve but once she located the corners of the court she began to control the rallies.
The fourth-seeded Petrova tried to punch holes in Ivanovic's backhand, but the Serb moved quickly to utilise her huge forehand.
Ivanovic broke Petrova to 5-4 when the Russian missed a forehand down the line, but Petrova broke her back to 5-5 when Ivanovic erred on a backhand.
But Ivanovic kept going for her shots and broke Petrova again to 6-5 when she powered an inside out forehand return of serve winner.
Petrova said she could not cope with Ivanovic's forehand.
“She just rips it off without thinking, sometimes I think she has no idea where it's going to go, but compared to other players, it's by far the best forehand out there,” Petrova said.
Ivanovic immediately broke Petrova at the start of the second set and never looked back, the Russian failing to create a single break point.
Ivanovic impressively closed out the match in the final game, torching four straight winners, including a 102 mph serve out wide to clinch victory.—Reuters
