adminINDIAN WELLS. — World number two Novak Djokovic rallied to beat Roger Federer in a three-set thriller on Sunday to win his first title of 2014 at the Indian Wells ATP Masters tennis title.
Djokovic defeated Federer 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) to add a third title in the California desert to those he captured in 2008 and 2011.
“I’m just very happy and thrilled to be able to win the first title in this season,” Djokovic said. “I played, three, four matches in three sets, a couple of matches had to come from a set down. Mentally this definitely helps my confidence.” Having gained an early break for a 2-1 lead in the third, Djokovic served for the match at 5-4 but was broken.
From there they went to a tiebreaker that Djokovic dominated.
“You always have to dig deep against Roger,” said Djokovic, who put every first serve in play in that ninth game and still dropped his serve.
“When I served for the match, he played a fantastic game. I couldn’t do much about it. I managed to regroup and get into the tiebreak.
“That was absolutely great for me, I mean, from the first to the last point.”
Federer sent a backhand long on the first point of the breaker, and Djokovic seized a quick 3-0 lead with an overhead smash off a lackluster Federer lob and another errant backhand from the Swiss.
“I think I played a good game to break back,” Federer said.
“Got the first serve returns back, and then played well from the baseline.”
He said playing into the wind likely made it harder for Djokovic to serve it out, but then the Serb had the wind with him for the first six points of the tiebreaker. — AFP.
Online Reporter