Roger Federer’s literal home court advantage playing in the Davidoff Swiss Indoor finals didn’t help as his opponent Novak Djokovic took home the trophy with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win.
Djokovic only lost two points on serve in the first set which he finally won after enduring a ten deuce game at 5-4 and blowing seven previous set points.
Djokovic appeared to run away with the match when he jumped out to 2-0 lead in the second until Federer hustled at net to win a deuce point to get things to 2-1. In the next game, Federer hit a forehand fade drop shot to break back at 2-2. It was then that Federer found his rhythm and got the crowd going finally allowing him to win the second set 6-4.
But that momentum was short lived as Federer dropped the opening service game in the third set after dumping a backhand into the net. Up 2-0, Djokovic endured a vicious 30 stroke rally that Federer won to get to 40-40. But Federer dropped that game down break point when he hit a backhand long allowing Djokovic to jump out to a 3-0 lead. By then it was too late for a rally and Federer’s 30 unforced errors, mostly from his forehand, allowed Djokovic to serve it out earning him his fourth ATP title this year.
This is a big win for Djokovic after losing to Federer in the U.S. Open where he seemed mostly in awe at times. Djokovic displayed his old “in your face” attitude but just tempered enough so it wasn’t borderline militant. It’s nice to see “Nole’s” fire back after being absent for most of 2009.
In other tourney news, Andy Murray easily defeated Mikhail Youzhny in Valencia 6-3, 6-2. Despite the loss, Youzhny will get back into the top 20 continuing his impressive late season run.
Adjusting the Net 