Novak Djokovic helped cement Serbia's role in world tennis yesterday by winning the Masters Cup with a convincing victory over Russian Nikolay Davydenko at Qi Zhong stadium.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates with his trophy during the awarding ceremony for the final of men's singles at Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, 2008, in Shanghai, Nov. 16, 2008. Novak Djokovic won the title by defeating Russia's Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 7-5. [Xinhua]

A few hours earlier, his compatriot Nenad Zimonjic teamed up with Canadian Daniel Nestor to win the doubles titles by defeating the Byran twins of the United States to close out the season at the top of the rankings.

Their combined achievements cemented the status of the war-blighted country as a new tennis power in a year that has also seen Ana Ivanovic win the French Open and Jelena Jankovic finish the season as world No 1.

"I think Serbia is getting used to (being) world No 1 and I have to work on that," Djokovic, third in the world rankings, teased after the match.

"There has been so much going on for Serbia recently and it's just incredible to describe how could we do it in a short period of time with so many players (coming up) in the WTA and ATP.

"Probably the fact that we did not have good conditions gave us more motivation to succeed."

Thanks to their efforts, Serbia will host its first ever ATP tournament in May next season as part of a hugely revamped tennis calendar.

"We deserved it and we have been fighting for this for years," Djokovic said.

The 21-year-old needed only one hour 42 minutes to defeat four-time Cup entry Davydenko in straight sets yesterday. He broke the Russian twice to close up the first set easily, then withstood a late challenge when Davykendo took three straight games to make it 5-5 in the second.

It is a fairytale end to the season for Djokovic, who took his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

"It means a lot. I would put it in the same league as the Grand Slams," he said.

"(For me) it's special that I played in the second part of the season in a couple of finals as I did not manage to win a title since Rome."

Djokovic, who has not won since May despite featuring in three subsequent finals, said he feared more bad luck was coming when he failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set.

"There was a lot of pressure and I am happy I was able to manage to hold my nerve," he said.

Djokovic finishes the year 10 points behind world No 2 Roger Federer, who crashed out of the semifinals on Friday, but he isn't done yet.

"I have the quality to be world No 1 and in the coming year that's my goal," he said.

Meanwhile, Davydenko has to continue to wrestle with his image as a perennial underachiever who chokes when the pressure hits. He is the only player in the world top five who has not won a Grand Slam or Masters Cup title.

"Maybe I need to change something," he said. "I can beat Nadal, I can beat Djokovic but you need something more. In the future, I need to find the key to beat these guys you know, not only in small tournaments, but also in Grand Slams."

The tournament will move to London next year after staying in China's financial hub for four years.

(China Daily November 17, 2008)