Three Belgrade born players shines today in Shanghai!!!

Serbian world number three Novak Djokovic defeated Russia's Nikolay Davydenko 6-1 7-5 to win the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai and earlier today Canadian Belgrade born Daniel Nestor and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic beat Americans Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (3), 6-2 to win the doubles title and clinch the year-end ATP No. 1 ranking.


“It means a lot,” said Djokovic. “I would put it in the same league as a Grand Slam, because the best eight players in the world are participating here and everybody has a lot of motivation to finish the season in the best possible way."


“For me it was special because although I've played in a couple of finals in the second part of the season I hadn’t managed to win a title for a long time, since Rome [in May]. That's probably the reason why I couldn't close it out at 5-4. I was a bit nervous. It wasn’t easy and there was a lot of pressure involved. I'm happy that I managed to hold my nerves in the end.”


Djokovic became first Serbian year-end champion and takes home 1.24 million dollars in prize money, also moves to within just 10 points of Roger Federer's second rankings spot.

“Certainly I believe that I have the quality to reach the top spot in the upcoming year, in the next couple of years, the next 10, or whatever,” Djokovic said. “That is my lifetime goal, but I’ve learned a lesson. If I pay too much attention to the rankings, things don’t go the right way. So I just want to improve my game. I know there is still room for improvement, and I just want to get my game to the highest possible level. Then the results will come.”

Nikolay Davydenko is appearing at his fourth straight end-of-year tournament after another busy season when he won more than 50 matches including titles at the Miami Masters, Poertschach and Warsaw.

The Russian, who beat Britain's Andy Murray in the last four, is left waiting for his first top-level title after four Grand Slam semis and nearly three-and-a-half years in the top 10.

"Against Djokovic you need to be perfect and also play very fast and very well," said Davydenko.

"That's what he did, and I didn't ... Normally I play very fast and have very good control and today I didn't. Djokovic played very well. For me I think today was a very difficult day."

Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic downed Bob and Mike Bryan in straight sets to claim the Masters Cup doubles title and snatch the US twins' number one ranking on Sunday.

The Canadian-Serbian Wimbledon champions won a first-set tie-break and dominated the second set to win 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 in 74 minutes, ending the Bryans' three-year run as end-of-season number ones.

"To win the Masters Cup - for me for the first time, for Danny to defend the title - to play against the Bryans, who have been dominating the doubles the last four, five years, and to fight for No. 1 spot, you couldn't ask for more as an athlete," said Zimonjic, who won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open in January with China's Sun Tiantian.

The Bryan twins, who were playing for their third title here, held the top ranking and won Olympic bronze at Beijing in August.

"With all the points out there, having it hinge on ... a few points at the end of the season is pretty amazing," Bob Bryan said. "I guess we've got to tip our hat to them. They played a great tournament and had a great year. We look forward to battling it out next year for the same thing."

This was the final year for the Masters Cup in Shanghai. It will move to London next year, while Shanghai will get the Masters 1,000 event that has been held in Hamburg.


(source Reuters, AFP photo/AFP/Getty Images, Reuters)

Serbian Day in Shanghai!!