World #2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia poses with his BNP Paribas Open trophy (AFP/Gabriel Bouys)
Novak Djokovic continued his unprecedented start to 2011 by notching his 18th consecutive match win and 3rd consecutive tournament title. Djokovic, 23, defeated World #1
Rafael Nadal 4-6 6-3 6-2 for the first time in a ATP Tour final, one day after outlasting an error-prone
Roger Federer 6-3 3-6 6-2. The Serbian is clearly the hottest player on tour, and becomes only the third player to have beaten Federer and Nadal in the same tournament twice, joining
Nikolay Davydenko and
David Nalbandian.
The BNP Paribas Open title was Djokovic's 21st ATP Tour title, his second at Indian Wells, following
his previous win in 2008 and avenging
his 2007 loss in the final to Nadal. It was his 6th ATP Masters Series title.
On the Women's side, World #1
Caroline Wozniacki beat
Marion Bartoli 6-1 2-6 6-3. The Frenchwoman will return to the Top 10 when the new rankings are released on Monday.
The 9th game, second set defined the Novak/Rafa match, as Rafa erased 5 set points, yet tenacity still got Novak the set. Thereafter, Rafa seemed to go quietly as his first serve seemed to disappear.
ReplyDeleteGood day to stay at home to watch tennis - 6" of rain in ten hours will do that!