Novak Djokovic battled through high temperatures in Florida to defeat Andy Murray in the final of the Miami Masters, at the weekend. "Novak deserved to win today and has played the best tennis all week”, the Scot said, of his opponent.
The big Serb won 6-1 7-6 (7-4) over two hours and 18 minutes to clinch the defence of the ATP Tour event in his second live tennis match of the year against Murray. He won last year's tournament after dispatching Spanish player, Rafael Nadal, in the final.
Djokovic became the first person to defend a Miami Masters trophy in almost a decade, following on from Roger Federer's title brace in 2005 and 2006.
The win will go some way to expunging the memory of his recent loss to John Isner at Indian Wells from his memory. Djokovic was knocked out of the tournament in the semi-finals by the American.
"I managed to come up with my best tennis when I needed to so I'm delighted. I'm now really looking forward to the clay season”, the reigning Wimbledon champion said, adding that the Roland Garros and the Olympics are on his “priority list”.
Djokovic is one of just three men to have won three (or more) Miami Masters titles, after bygone legends, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Agassi won six between 1990 and 2003, while Sampras had a comparatively modest trio of wins. With the clay court season now approaching there are a number of tennis betting offers available for punters who feel Djokovic can continue his dominance, even with clay-court specialist Nadal returning to fitness imminently.
Andy Murray was handed something of a free pass through two of his matches in Florida. He avoided Milos Raonic in the third round and Nadal in the semi-final, after both withdrew with injuries to their ankle and knee, respectively.
In the other final to be played at the weekend, Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova defeated Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci to win the women's doubles event at the Miami Masters. The former pair triumphed 7-6 (7-0) 4-6 10-4.
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