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Novak Djokovic wins Sony Ericsson Open

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Tuesday, 5th April 2011
Novak Djokovic won his fourth title of 2011 yesterday, overcoming world number one Rafael Nadal in straight sets, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Djokovic is now unbeaten this year, with an impressive record of 24-0, and stands second in the world rankings.

The Serbian has been impressive throughout the tournament, recording wins against Mardy Fish, James Blake and Victor Troicki. He dropped just 14 games en route to the final and is brimming with confidence: "I don't feel invincible. I don't feel that I can't lose on the court. What I feel is big confidence. What I feel is that I'm playing the best tennis of my life."

One can't blame Djokovic for his new-found confidence and accompanying creativity as he has won his last four tournaments and has racked up three victories over Roger Federer, two over Rafael Nadal and dominated Andy Murray to win the Australian Open for the second time.

The final itself was a fantastic spectacle: Nadal took the first set 6-4 but there was a hint of things to come as Djokovic broke his opponent's serve at 5-1 and mustered a semi-comeback.

The world number two raced out of the blocks in the second set and went 3-0 up, with his variation impressing most. He kept Nadal running all day long and his demeanour on court is greatly improved. It seemed that Djokovic is mentally in the place that Murray should be in.

Djokovic went on to take the second set 6-3. Then the last set went all the all with serve, including some scintillating rallies along the way.

Djokovic sealed his second Miami Masters after a tie-break, which he took 7-4, and was overjoyed to see his cross-court bullet beat Nadal. He said afterwards: "It was such a close match. To win against the number one player of the world in a tie-break in the third set, it's just fantastic."

Elsewhere in the tournament, Britain's Andy Murray disappointed by losing to a qualifier for the second tournament in a row. Alex Bogomolov Jr, ranked 118th, broke Murray seven times on his way to a 6-1, 7-5 victory. Murray had previously lost to Donald Young at the BNP Paribas Open and he doesn't have much to look forward to in the coming months with clay dominating the agenda.

Nadal has experienced an unsatisfactory start to 2011. Despite the boost he received after his emphatic victory over Roger Federer in the semi-final, he is yet to win a title, and he suffered a disappointing defeat to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the Australian Open.

But, the clay court season is now fast approaching and Nadal will be relishing his return to the clay of Roland Garros, on which he has only ever lost once.

Djokovic may now seem to be the King of the hard-court but no one disputes Nadal's claim to be King of clay. His career record stands at 177-14, a win percentage of 92.7%, and he has won 29 titles on clay: when he's fit, he's untouchable.

This year has already produced some incredibly exciting tennis and it's great to see Djokovic breaking the near strangle-hold of Nadal and Federer. The competition is good for the game and with Murray, Juan Martin Del Potro, Robin Soderling, David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych chomping at the bit for some time at the top, we're in for a fantastic season of tennis.

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