TENNIS – Novak Djokovic rallied from a set down to edge Roger Federer in a dramatic Indian Wells final which came down to the tie-break in the third set. Djokovic prevailed 3-6 6-3 7-6 to lift his third Indian Wells title and his 17th Master 1000 win and his 42nd overall title. Diego Sampaolo
Djokovic failed to serve out at 5-4 in the third set allowing Federer to win two consecutive games for 6-5 but Djokovic won the next game to force the decider to tie-break where the Serb won easily with 7-3.
Djokovic bounced back from his recent defeat against Federer in the fantastic Dubai semifinal in Dubai a few weeks ago to close his gap on the Swiss legend to 16-17 in their head-to-head matches.
Federer cruised to 3-0 in the opening set en route to winning thefirst set with 6-3 in just 31 minutes but the second set was a different story. Djokovic got the decisive break in the 8th game for 5-3 as Federer sent his forehand wide.
Djokovic got an early break in the third game of the decider to take a 2-1 lead. He went up 4-2 with an ace and fired a backhand winner down the line to increase his lead to 5-3. Federer won the next game to love to claw his way back to 5-4 as Djokovic was serving for the match.
Federer broke serve on a forehand error by Djokovic to draw level to 5-all. Federer won 12 of 13 points to edge 6-5 but Djokovic dropped just one point on his serve to hold serve and force the tie-break.
Djokovic got the mini-break and cruised to 5-1 after four errors by Federer. The Serb wrapped up the match on his second match point after 2 hours and 12 minutes when Federer hit his forehand into the net. It was an extremely close match in which Djokovic won just one point than Federer (99 to 98). It was the second time in their 33 head-to-head matches that these two players played the tie-break
Djokovic clinched his third Indian Wells win becoming the second player with most wins in this tournament reaching Jimmy Connors, Michael Chang and Rafa Nadal.
Federer suffered his first defeat in a final at Indian Wells and his winning streak of 11 consecutive matches came to an end but he will move up to World Number 5 in the ATP Ranking.
A record figure of 431,527 fans attended the Indian Wells tournament.
