Djokovic wraps up Dubai

Serbia's Novak Djokovic kisses the winner's trophy after beating Spaniard David Ferrer at the Dubai Open final on Saturday.Photo: AFP

Novak Djokovic closed up a little on Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at the top of the world rankings by winning the 12th title of his career in the Dubai Open on Saturday.
The top-seeded, world number three from Serbia overcame Spaniard David Ferrer by 7-5, 6-3, and in some ways it was a slight surprise that Djokovic won the final with a little to spare.
He had not been in the greatest of form coming into the tournament, nor had he found it easy to deal with the tight schedule between the Marseille and Dubai tournaments, or the hot weather.
But having survived a marathon in 100-degree Fahrenheit temperatures against Gilles Simon of France the day before, he now showed his resilience as well as his ground stroke solidity with a gritty performance.
"It's a special night for me," Djokovic reckoned. "But it's more than that. This win in Dubai is going to give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season."
The 2008 Australian Open champion had endured a sluggish start to the season with rivals believing his decision to switch racquet manufacturer was a major factor in his dip in form.
"I have not started the year the way I wanted. I made some major changes to racquets which was quite risky. But I took responsibility, and that's what I did," said Djokovic whose Australian Open title defence ended at the last-eight stage.
"As the season is going on I feel more comfortable with the racquet, more comfortable on the court.
"I've got to release the pressure and play tennis like I have in the first part of 2008, and if I do I will be more successful."
Asked if he was trying to prove something after the criticism he received at the Australian Open, where he retired with heat exhaustion against Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, Djokovic said: "No."
He added: "Everyone has a right to what they say. Of course there is criticism - it's not possible that everyone likes you, but I am trying to stay focussed on the right path."
Saturday's match was as strange as the weather, which had been dusty and with limited visibility, gradually depositing fine sand on the court.
Ferrer was all running, grunting, and vicious forehands, while Djokovic was two-winged and occasionally all court with his game.
The Serb let slip leads of 4-2 and 5-3, while the Spaniard looked as though he had recovered enough to take it to a tie-break, only to play a disappointing final game to the set.
There were five breaks of serve in all, and Ferrer's main consolation was that he had extended it to beyond 50 minutes and might be able to take advantage of Djokovic's exhausting semifinal.
But Djokovic had played a brilliant second point to take the final game and kept Ferrer under pressure in his opening service game of the second set.
Ferrer tried an ambitious inside out drive which slid just wide of the sideline and proved to be two inches out, according to the Hawkeye computer replay to which he appealed.
That put him break point down, on which he tried a rare foray the net, where he put an angled stop volley out.
This put Djokovic 2-0 up, which he consolidated with increasing incisiveness and momentum to 3-0, and 4-1. But at 40-15 on his serve, about to reach 5-2, he faltered.
His first serve and ability to attack briefly disappeared and Ferrer, with some strident, even noisier forehands, got the break back. But it was a brief respite, for Ferrer could not take the chance he had created.
Instead he double faulted to go 3-5 and Djokovic closed out the match with a spectacular finish - an ace which had been called a fault, only for the decision to be reversed after Djokovic had made an agonising appeal.
The two men may meet again in the Davis Cup in Benidorm next week.
"That will be very different," said Djokovic immediately. "Here I had a great crowd, with plenty of Serbians. There he will have 15,000 Spaniards supporting him. He will be the favourite."