Serbians sweep at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, California: Steadily growing in self-belief, Serb Novak Djokovic has made a dream start to the year but refuses to accept he is the game's top player on current form.

The world No 3 won his first Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open in January before clinching his eighth ATP career title at the Pacific Life Open on Sunday.

Djokovic beat defending champion and world No 2 Rafael Nadal 7-6, 6-2 in the last four on the hardcourt surface at Indian Wells before holding off unseeded American Mardy Fish 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in the final.

Djokovic compatriot Ana Ivanovic, the top seed in the WTA portion of the tournament, defeated second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3 to complete a Serbian sweep at Indian Wells.

"This is a big run," the 20-year-old Serb told reporters of landing the two biggest tournaments of the season.

"Obviously, I'm getting all things together and I started believing in myself much more than I used to last year.

"When you start winning the major events, you have proved to yourself in the first place and to everybody else that you have quality to be there at the top. It's just a matter of mental ability and mental strength.

"I have worked on that throughout these last two years and I think I gained that with experience," added the Serb, who will close the gap on Spaniard Nadal when the world rankings are issued on Monday.

"But on the other hand, I know that to be here and to make such great achievements, you need to work hard and that's what I'm doing. I hope I can keep the momentum going."

Djokovic, beaten in last year's final at Indian Wells by Nadal, still trails the Spaniard and Swiss world No 1 Roger Federer in the rankings.

"I'm aware of the fact that people started talking about that and looking at me as best player in the world this moment," he said.

"Looking at the results, I think I deserve to be, but I don't want to think in that direction because it creates extra pressure. I have enough pressure and expectation behind my back.

"I'm coming closer, though, to second place in the world and people have started talking about three players instead of two now, which is encouraging and a great thing for me. But I'm still not thinking of myself as the best player in the world."

After winning the opening Masters Series event of the season, Djokovic has an opportunity to claim the second, the Sony Ericsson Open starting next week in Miami where he triumphed last year.

"I don't want to stop here, even though I've been playing fantastic," he said. "I'm lucky enough to have a lot of important tournaments on this surface, which suits me the best.

"I'll try to keep going in Miami and coming from Indian Wells as tournament winner, it's much easier to play."

Ivanovic puts nerves behind

Despite feeling uneasy as top seed at the tournament for only the second time in a WTA Tour event, Serb Ivanovic signed off on a high with a composed victory in Sunday's final.

The 20-year-old world No 2 has also set her sights on the top spot in the rankings.

"I was a little bit nervous coming into this tournament because it hasn't happened to me that many times," the elegant Serb told reporters after capturing the first Masters Series event of the year.

"It's such a strong field and still I'm No 1 seeded, so obviously more pressure comes into the play.

"In the first few matches, I was more nervous, but then I just started to focus and not even think about who I play against, just do what I have been doing in practice.

"I've been practicing really well and working hard on my fitness," added Ivanovic, who lost to Russian Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final in January.

"That's something I tried to focus on when I was on the court so I was thinking technically what I had to do and, as the tournament went on and on, I played better."

Ivanovic played her first Grand Slam final at last year's French Open, losing to Belgium's Justine Henin, and has already turned her thoughts to Wimbledon and the Beijing Games in August.

Agencies

(China Daily 03/25/2008 page24)