Photo: Lionel Cironneau, AP
This is the news of the day: world no.1 Serbian Novak Djokovic wins his maiden Monte Carlo Masters Tennis title today at Monte Carlo.
The Serbian beat the much aspiring defending champion Rafael Nadal 6-2 and &(7)-6(1) and crashed any hopes the Spaniard had to win the Monte Carlo title for the record 9th consecutive times.
It may be added that Nadal won his 46 previous matches at Monte Carlo — beating Djokovic in last year's final — and his last defeat here was against Guillermo Coria 10 years ago. However, he won his first Monte Carlo title in 2005 and has since been the unbeaten champion for eight consecutive times - a world record in itself.
Djokovic faced Nadal for the 16th time in a championship decider, and they are now 8-8 in finals. Nadal had won the previous three, including the French Open final last year.
Nadal has reached five consecutive finals since returning from a knee injury in February — winning three, and losing two — while Australian Open champion Djokovic won his third title of the year and 37th overall.
