Masterful Djokovic fries Fish
Masterful Djokovic fries Fish 
From correspondents in Indian Wells, California
Former Australian Captain March 24, 2008
NO.3 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia won the Pacific Life Open ATP Masters Series title with a 6-2 5-7 6-3 victory over unseeded American Mardy Fish.
Djokovic, who claimed his first grand slam title with a victory at the Australian Open in January, improved on his runner-up finish to Spain’s Rafael Nadal last year.
Fish, a one-time top-20 player
who came into the tournament ranked 98th in the world, had stunned world No.1 Roger Federer in the semi-finals.
Djokovic appeared to have the match in hand after winning the first set 6-2 and taking a 4-2 lead in the second.
But Fish broke him in the seventh game and again in the 11th as he forced a decisive third set.
Trailing 0-40 on his serve in the opening game of the third, Djokovic produced three of his 10 aces to hold. He broke Fish in the next game and never again relinquished the advantage.
With the victory, Djokovic consolidated his No.3 position in the rankings, moving closer to No.2 Nadal.
Fish will jump back into the top 50 when the new rankings are released on Tuesday (EDT).
The 26-year-old American, who reached his career high of 17 in the rankings in 2004, has had an injury-plagued career. But Djokovic, like Federer before him, said Fish was a better player than his ranking indicated.
Certainly, Fish landed some big wins this week, eliminating five seeded players: Russians Igor Andreev (31) and Nikolay Davydenko (4), two-time former champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia (24), Argentina’s David Nalbandian (7) and finally, Federer.
It marked the first time Fish had beaten three top-10 players - Davydenko, Nalbandian and Federer - in the same tournament.
Djokovic’s victory completed an impressive week in which he didn’t drop a set until the final.
It also followed the victory in the WTA section of the tournament of No.1 seed Ana Ivanovic, also of Serbia. Ivanovic defeated No.2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4 6-3.
Agence France-Presse