For British fans of Andy Murray, who was knocked out of the Masters Cup by Nikolay Davydenko in the semi-finals, the final of the competition may have held little excitement.

The final saw Davydenko meet Novak Djokovic, who had shown mixed form throughout the tournament and was perhaps lucky to be in the final. However, in reality the match was a thrilling one and was ultimately dominated by the Serb, who was also successful in the Australian Open earlier this year.

Djokovic won the match 6-1, 7-5, and his performance was a far cry from the ones seen in last year’s competition. In the 2007 Masters Cup, Djokovic lost all his matches and paled into insignificance in the face of tougher competition.

This year though, the Serb, who is still only twenty-one years of age, was truly ecstatic after the final point was played. He revealed that the victory is a “great achievement” and he also believes the event is on a par with a Grand Slam tournament, since the best eight tennis players compete against each other for glory.

The forehand which had proved to be lethal in the Australian Open was once again on show for Djokovic, and Davydenko was simply unable to cope with its power and accuracy. Davydenko remained rooted to the baseline for large parts of the match and seemed unable to hit with any accuracy from this point on the court.

This remained the pattern of the match throughout the opening set and it certainly seemed as if Davydenko was going to be taught a lesson in powerful tennis during the second set as well.

However, he eventually managed to find some kind of form and Djokovic started to become visibly nervous. Davydenko did enough to bring the score to 5-5, but a series of unforced errors handed the advantage to the Serb once again. Djokovic took full advantage of the opportunity to win the match and claim an impressive title.