Double HEAD Tennis glory in Miami
April 4, 2011
Miami, FL — Two HEAD racquet rebels won the finals at the Miami Masters tournament this weekend. Novak Djokovic extended his incredible winning-streak to 24 straight matches this season, and including the 2010 Davis Cup finals, the Serb is 26-0 since last December. Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to take his second title at the Sony Ericsson Open ATP Masters 1000. On top, in the women’s final Victoria Azarenka beat fellow HEAD player Maria Sharapova to earn the women’s trophy – which was also her second title at Crandon Park.
ATP World No. 2 Djokovic turned in a huge to overcome Nadal in three hours and 21 minutes. Djokovic, playing with his new YouTek IG Speed MP, and his Spanish top-seeded rival battled in the fierce Florida heat, until Novak, who also won Miami in 2007, won his third match point in the tie-break of the decisive set.
“It was very close, it could have gone either way,” said a relieved Djokovic, who is now 9-16 against Nadal. “It was one of the best finals that I’ve ever played in my life. It’s always a great pleasure to play against Rafa, he’s also had a great two weeks here.”
Djokovic becomes the first to complete the coast-to-coast American Indian Wells-Miami double since Roger Federer in 2006. He also beat Nadal at the Californian final a fortnight ago. He improved to 22-13 in ATP finals and 7-6 at the elite ATP Masters 1000 level. For Nadal it was the second loss in a row after he had won the five previous final meetings.
In a HEAD-to-HEAD clash for the women’s title, Azarenka showed perfect form with her YouTek IG Extreme Pro in a 6-1, 6-4 defeat over Maria Sharapova. Azarenka (Belarus) has now won the Miami title twice in the last three years.
The 23-year-old claimed the sixth trophy of her career as she held off a late second-set surge from Sharapova, who has now played three finals at Crandon Park.
Azarenka says she is playing a new brand of tennis. “I think I changed my mentality a little bit. I’m enjoying myself so much on the court that there’s no room for me for frustration right now. I played really well in the first set,” said the winner. “Maria came up with some great shots and made it tough in the second. But it‘s great to win and to be moving to Sixth in the rankings.”
For interview clips, visit: head.com/tennis.