Djokovic wins the Masters Cup

Great Tennis! that is the only rightful word to describe Novak Djokovic's Tennis here at the Shanghai tennis stadium at China where he defeated Russian Nikolay Davydenko to become the New masters Cup champion. Novak Djokovic was in devastating form as he capped a huge season by racing to his first Tennis Masters Cup title with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Nikolay Davydenko. The final victory earns Djokovic 50 points in the ATP 2008 Race and takes him to within just two points of second-placed Roger Federer at the season end.
"I would put it in the same league as a Grand Slam because the best eight players in the world are participating here," said Djokovic. "I feel very happy. End up the season the way I started it, with a win in a big event. So it's a great boost up for upcoming season."



The Belgrade native began Sunday afternoon’s final at the Qi Zhong Stadium in blistering form, breaking the Davydenko serve twice as he raced to a 5-0 lead. While Davydenko made a nervous start, hampered by poor serving, Djokovic played one of his finest sets of the tournament, dominating and dictating the points and hitting winners from every area of the court.

Davydenko barely had time to find his feet in the second set, just settling in at 1-1, when he was powerless to stop an inspired Djokovic from breaking through with a big forehand passing shot to lead with a break.

Djokovic looked to be on the verge of one of the biggest tournament victories of his career when he held two match points with Davydenko serving at 3-5. But the Russian chose that moment to produce some of his best tennis, winning seven of the next eight points to first hold serve and then command a 0-30 advantage as Djokovic attempted to close out victory. Tremendous hitting into both corners by Davydenko left Djokovic facing two break points and he surrendered on the second with a double fault to hand Davydenko a lifeline.


By However, Davydenko’s respite was short-lived as Djokovic played arguably his best game of the final to immediately recoup the break of serve and, at the second time of asking, made no mistake as he roared to victory with a powerful serve that Davydenko could not return.

"It was special because I've played in the second part of the season in a couple of finals, and I didn't manage to win the title for a long time, since Rome," said Djokovic. "That's probably the reason why I couldn't close it out in 5-4. I was a bit nervous. It's not easy, you know. There is a lot of pressure involved. I'm happy that I managed to hold my nerves in the end."
"For me I think was today a very difficult day," said Davydenko. "He played very good. We played both from baseline. I tried to control, but he played fast. He didn't play like one ball fast; he played like every point, very good concentration completely first set. Because he didn't make so many mistakes. Good serve, good return.

Against Djokovic you need to be perfect, also play very fast and very good. That's what he did, and I didn't. Doesn't matter how he played one game; he still had good concentration for the next game. That's why I lost everything from the baseline. He played faster, and I really had no chance."



The 21-year-old Djokovic closed and opened his season with a title, having won his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January with victory over Federer in the semifinals and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final. The Serb also punctuated his season with ATP Masters Series shields at Indian Wells (d. Fish) and Rome (d. Wawrinka) and now takes his career total to 11 (11-6 record).

The Monte-Carlo resident, who finished 2008 with a 64-17 match record, also made semifinal exits at Roland Garros (l. to Nadal) and the US Open (l. to Federer) and captured a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympic Games (d. Blake).

The 27-year-old Davydenko enjoyed his best performance at the Tennis Masters Cup this week, improving on the semifinal finish he achieved on his debut in 2005 (l. to Nalbandian).

The Volgograd resident, who upset the in-form Andy Murray in the semifinals, finished his fine season with a 56-21 record, marred only by his inability to reach the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam for the first time since 2004. He collected three ATP titles at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami (d. No. 2 Nadal), Poertschach (d. Monaco) and Warsaw (d. Robredo), helped Russia to the Davis Cup semifinals and represented his country in the circuit finale championship match for the first time.. Read more!

Davydenko Pulls on a surprise!

Nikolay Davydenko defeated the US OPEN finalist and the unbeaten man in the round robin stages to advance to the Finals of the Year end masters cup where he will face the tournament 2nd seed Novak Djokovic. If Djokovic wins the final he could possible be the World no.2 replacing Roger Federer.
Nikolay Davydenko reached the Masters Cup final with a 7-5, 6-2 victory Saturday over Andy Murray, who seemed exhausted from his upset of Roger Federer a day earlier.

Davydenko will meet Novak Djokovic, who earlier rallied to oust France’s Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. In a round-robin match this week, Djokovic beat Davydenko in three sets.

Despite consistently being ranked in the top five, the 27-year-old Davydenko has never reached a Grand Slam final. His best performance in three previous appearances here had been a semifinal loss in 2005.

He was steady and relentless against Murray, who looked exhausted from his 3-hour victory over second-ranked Federer on Friday night. Davydenko was fresher, having not played since Thursday, and finished with 33 winners to just seven for Murray.

Murray said he had no reason to question his decision to go full out against Federer even though he already had clinched a semifinal spot.

“I beat probably the best player of all time,” he said. “I have no regrets about doing that. To beat him … means a similar amount to winning a tournament like this.

Murray said he didn’t get to sleep until 2:30 a.m.

“Ideally I would have liked to have beaten him easier … and given myself a slightly better chance to prepare for this match,” Murray said.

Davydenko said he owed thanks to Federer—and hopes Djokovic’s nearly 3-hour match against Simon will have the same effect in the final.

Murray and Davydenko stayed on serve in the first set until Murray served at 5-5. He went up 40-15, but swung his racket in anger between points as Davydenko pulled to deuce.

Murray thought he had an ace to save a break point, but it was overruled on a Davydenko challenge. Murray wasn’t convinced, walking toward the net for a closer look, then sent a backhand wide for the break.

Davydenko held to finish off the set with an ace and a backhand winner down the line. He then ran off the last five games of the second set as Murray looked increasingly dispirited, trudging around the court between points.

“I don’t want to try to make excuses,” Murray said. “He played much better than me. I did the best that I could with what I had.”

Djokovic struggled against Simon in the first set, committed 21 unforced errors. But the Serb pulled himself together, mixing up stinging groundstrokes with deft drop shots from behind the baseline.

Djokovic, who went 0-3 in his Masters Cup debut last year, got down on his knees and kissed the court after winning in 2 hours, 51 minutes.

“I didn’t have such a great time here last year,” Djokovic said. “Didn’t win a single set. But I learned something. Took the best out of it and used it this year.”

Simon dropped only six points in five service games in the first set. Djokovic made back-to-back mistakes to hand Simon the only break he needed.

In the second set, Djokovic picked up his game and started clipping the lines.

At the same time, Simon’s level of play dropped. He had his first two double-faults in the next game, the second on a break point. Djokovic held serve for the rest of the set to even it.

Simon, who was added to the field of the season-ending tournament when No. 1 Rafael Nadal withdrew with a knee injury, was twice unfortunate with net bounces to lose his serve in the third game of the third set.

Djokovic served for the match at 5-4, but double-faulted.

“I was pretty exhausted, had to save some energy,” he said. “I went for the shots. I wanted to make the points shorter. I risked, and the risk didn’t pay off in that game. But it paid off afterwards.”

He broke right back and converted his second chance to finish the match. Read more!

Djokovic through to the semis

People have still not recovered from the shock loss of Federer to relatively unknown Giles Simon two days back. Fed will now have to defeat the TWO BIG ANDY's to open up his chance to get into the semis. Meanwhile in the Gold group The 2nd seed Novak Djokovic has confirmed his seat in the semis with a awesome performance of tennis over Nikolay Davydenko by coming up and defeating him with one set down.

Confused and jittery after failing to win a game in the second set, Novak Djokovic rallied past Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (3), 0-6, 7-5 Tuesday to reach the semifinals of the season-ending Masters Cup.

In the day’s other round-robin match, Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in a meeting between promising players making Masters Cup debuts.

Tsonga sat out three months with a knee injury this year and had to win the Paris Masters nine days ago to qualify for this showcase for the game’s top eight players. Del Potro was ranked No. 65 in July before a 23-match winning streak vaulted him to No. 8.


Davydenko will play Del Potro on Thursday with a semifinal berth at stake.

“You know it’s your last chance,” Davydenko said. “If I win, I can qualify. If not, then I go on holiday.”

Del Potro’s holiday will be delayed at least another week. He will play for Argentina in the Davis Cup final Nov. 21-23 against a Spanish team that will be without top-ranked Rafael Nadal because of a sore knee.

“For all tennis players, it’s like a dream to be here,” Del Potro said. “But also next week it will be another dream.”

Roger Federer and Andy Roddick, who lost their first matches in the Red Group, face each other Wednesday. Andy Murray and Gilles Simon will also play.

Djokovic ran his record to 2-0 in the Gold Group and eliminated Tsonga. Djokovic won only nine points in the second set. Davydenko, who fell to 1-1, said he never saw the third-ranked Serb play so poorly.


“I had a very unexplainable lapse. I just wasn’t myself,” Djokovic said. “It was very hard to come back. I was really nervous.”

The last time he failed to win a game in a set came against Richard Gasquet at the Estoril Open final in April 2007. He won that match, too.

Davydenko yielded only four points in his first four service games, leaving Djokovic frustrated and looking toward his fans. Then Davydenko self-destructed. Serving for the first set at 5-4, the Russian double-faulted at 30-30 and sent a forehand wide to even the match.

In the tiebreaker, Davydenko handed the first four points to Djokovic with three forehand errors and a double-fault, then double-faulted again on set point.

Djokovic recovered in the third set. Serving at 5-5, 40-30, Davydenko grimaced after hitting a backhand volley wide, then sent two forehands long for the break. Djokovic held to finish the match.

Del Potro, at 20 the youngest player in the field, has had a sore toe since the U.S. Open. He said he was trying to win while also conserving energy for Davis Cup, but Tsonga’s power sent him lunging from side to side.

Tsonga had the linesmen ducking with 10 aces in his first four service games. But inconsistency—and solid play from Del Potro—undid the Frenchman.

Tsonga led 3-1 in the first tiebreaker, but Del Potro ran off six of the next seven points to finish the set.

In the second tiebreaker, Del Potro ripped a backhand winner on the run to pull ahead 4-2. An overhead winner set up triple match point at 6-3. Tsonga hit an ace and a service winner before netting a forehand to end the match.

“I know he played better than me in the tiebreak,” Tsonga said. “I miss some easy balls, and that’s it.” Read more!