New Delhi: Third seed Novak Djokovic produced a brilliant game of tennis to beat world No. 1 Roger Federer 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-6 (2) in the finals of the Rogers Cup (Montreal Master) in Montreal.
The 20-year-old Serb saved six set points in the first set to take it 7-6 in the tie breaker. But defending champion Federer stormed back to level the match taking the set 6-2.
Djokovic, who had never beaten Federer in their four previous meetings, took the fight to the top seed in the decider and finally wrapped up the match in two hours and 12 minutes.
"This first set was really crucial I can say. In the second set he managed to break through and (I) lost a bit of energy and used his opportunities. But first set was really important, I saved a couple of set points and I had 40-0 and 5-5 on my serve but I lost it and then after that I really fight for every point and I managed to win that first set which was really important. And to win two tiebreaks against the world number one, probably the strongest player mentally on the tour, it's another achievement, it's another success so I'm really really happy," an ecstatic Djokovic later said.
The win was Djokovic's fourth this year. Federer had won the tournament in 2004 and 2006.
Djokovic had also beaten Andy Roddick and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in his previous rounds to become the first player to beat the world's top three players in the same tournament since Boris Becker defeated No. 3 Michael Stich, No. 1 Pete Sampras and No. 2 Goran Ivanisevic in succession in 1994 in Stockholm.
Djokovic collected $400,000 for the win while Federer got $200,000.
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