Djokovic wins dustup in the desert

THIS weekend saw the culmination of some fantastic tennis from Indian wells, California, when the BNP Paribas open men’s title was taken by Novak Djokovic, beating Roger Federer 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2. The woman’s title was taken home by the Romanian sensation Simona Halep.

Djokovic had previously beaten Britain’s Andy Murray in the semi-finals to book his place against Federer in Sunday’s final, and wondered if it was going to be a repeat of the recent Dubai final which Federer won. But he needn’t have been worried. 

The Serbian and world number one Djokovic took full advantage of Federer making too many mistakes at crucial times, and fought back in the third set to stamp his mark on the trophy for the second straight year and equalling Federer’s record of desert wins.

He said later: “I am at the prime of my career, I’m going to try to use every part of this fact to stay where I am and to fight for as many major titles as possible.”

Friday unfortunately witnessed Serena Williams withdrawing from her semi-final match against world number three Simona Halep, which allowed the Romanian a buy into the final against the Serbian Jelena Jankovic.

After dropping behind in the first set 2-6, Halep must have thought she had an uphill battle on her hands. But with the help of four break points in the second set, and a total of 18 in all, she cruised to victory against Jankovic in the women’s final to lift the golden reward.