Jubilant Djokovic revels in greatest victory

Montreal, Aug 13: Novak Djokovic said his victory over world number one Roger Federer to win the Montreal Masters was the greatest victory of his career.

The third-seeded Serb, who beat Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal to reach the final, sealed a 7-6 2-6 7-6 win to claim his second Masters Series title yesterday.

''It's an unbelievable win for me,'' Djokovic told reporters.

''I can say this was an even bigger success than Miami (in March) because I managed to beat the top three players in the world in the last three rounds. It's like a dream come true.'' Djokovic attacked Federer throughout, racing to a 3-0 lead and saving six set points at 6-5 before taking the opening-set tiebreak 7-2.

The Swiss hit back to level in the second set thanks to two breaks and recovered from 4-2 down in the third to force a deciding tiebreak.

But Djokovic kept his nerve, playing an almost flawless tiebreak to win it 7-2, sinking to his knees in jubilation when an attempted through the legs shot by Federer could only find the net.

The 20-year-old, a semi-finalist at this year's French Open and at Wimbledon, will move up to number three in the rankings on Monday and said he had shown that he could hold his own with the very best.

''It was very important at the start of the year to perform well in the most important tournaments, the major ones, which I did,'' he said. ''I showed it again. I showed my quality and I deserve to be here right now.'' Djokovic has made no secret of his desire to become world number one but the Serb said time was on his side.

''It's still a long way to go, even though I'm third in the world,'' he said.

''I can't exactly say that I'm thinking about becoming number one next year, in two years. I'll just try to keep my focus and do what I did until now. That's my lifetime goal, to be the number one player in the world. But I have a lot of time.''

Reuters>