Sun Nov 16 06:15:54 2008

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Djokovic beats Davydenko to capture Masters Cup; Bryans lose

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Shanghai, China (Sports Network) - Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic defeated Russian star Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets on Sunday to capture the championship at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup.

The second-seeded Djokovic handled the fourth-seeded Davydenko 6-1, 7-5 on Day 8 at Shanghai's Qi Zhong Stadium.

The 21-year-old Djokovic prevailed in 1 hour, 42 minutes, as he broke Davydenko's serve four times on Sunday, compared to only one break for the 27- year-old loser.

Djokovic, who won this week's four-player Gold Group, went 4-1 for the week, including a victory over Davydenko in the round-robin portion of the event. Davydenko wound up 3-2 for the week.

The Serbian Djokovic is now 2-1 lifetime against Davydenko, with all three meetings coming this year. The speedy Russian prevailed in a Davis Cup bout earlier in the season.

The Belgrade native Djokovic now owns 11 career titles in 17 finals and went 4-3 in his 2008 title tilts. Davydenko went 3-2 in five finals this season, including a big Masters Series title in Miami. He dropped to 14-5 in his career ATP finals.

Djokovic captured his first-ever major title at the Aussie Open back in January.

The 6-foot-3 Djokovic pocketed $1.24 million this week, while Davydenko settled for $615,000 at this exclusive $4.45 million tournament.

Swiss great Roger Federer won this event the last two years, but was eliminated from semifinal contention by Scottish star Andy Murray here on Friday. Davydenko upset a weary Murray in Saturday's semis.

In Sunday's doubles final here, the second-seeded tandem of Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking by dousing the top-seeded duo of American twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. The 2003 and 2004 Masters Cup champion Bryans had been the year- end No. 1 team the previous three years.

Nestor-Zimonjic went 3-1 against the Bryans this season.

The 36-year-old Nestor, paired with Bahamian Mark Knowles, also captured the Masters Cup doubles title last year.

This prestigious event will shift to London next year.