Djokovic shrugs off Monfils challenge

PARIS, (Reuters) – Serbia’s Novak Djokovic shrugged  off a brave challenge from crowd favourite Gael Monfils to claim  the Paris Masters title with a 6-2 5-7 7-6 win yesterday.

World number three Djokovic, who had outclassed Rafael Nadal  in the semi-finals and had dropped only one set en route to the  final, had to dig deep to win his second title in as many weeks.

Outplayed at first, Monfils, seeded 15th, thrilled a  partisan 14,000 crowd packing the Bercy hall by fighting back to  win the second set and recovering from 4-1 down to level the  decisive set before losing it 7-3 in a tiebreak.

Djokovic, who beat world number one Roger Federer in the  Basel final week, showed signs of nerves at times and had to  wait for Monfils to double fault on the first match point to  seal victory after two hours 43 minutes.

“It was incredibly tough,” Djokovic said after winning his  fifth title this year but his first in 2009 in the showcase  Masters 1000 Series.

“Gael is very unpredictable. He was hitting the ball well  and he’s got a strong serve. At first I played unbelievable but  then he started coming back, with the crowd on his side.”

The 22-year-old Serb has won 76 matches this year, more than  any other player, although disappointing results at major events  stopped him from getting anywhere near the number one spot.

London favourite
His current form suggests, however, that he will be the  favourite at the season-ending Nov. 22-29 World Tour Finals in  London and could give Federer and Nadal a run for their money in  2010.

Relying on his devastating forehand and hardly making an  error, Djokovic wrapped up the first set in just 30 minutes.

The second set’s script was similar at first, another  unforced error from Monfils handing Djokovic a 2-0 lead, and a  crushing win looked on the cards but the Serb then dropped his  guard, enabling his opponent to find his way back into the  match.