Novak Djokovic took his unbeaten start of the year to 37 matches as he stunned World No. 1 Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-4 to win the Rome Masters on Sunday. Maria Sharapova won the women's title beating Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4.
Sunday was the fourth time in a row the Serbian has beaten Nadal in a Masters final this season and the second successive week he has done so on clay after winning in Madrid.The World No. 2, who lost all of his eight previous matches on clay against the Spaniard before his Madrid triumph, is also homing in on Nadal's top ranking.
But Nadal said he is focussing on improving his own game.
“I'm there all the time, I've played in six straight finals, I've lost four (Miami, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome; wins at Monte Carlo and Barcelona) but there is one player playing better than the rest, he is doing unbelievably,” said Nadal. “My goal is to be there next time. In the last few months he's been on a different level to the rest of the players.
“I have important personal satisfaction in how I'm doing this year. This week was very positive for me, I finished the week playing much better than at the beginning.”
Having lost twice in a row to Djokovic on clay, Nadal said he is not worried that his aura of invincibility has been damaged.
“For me, it doesn't matter if people think I am more beatable than before, the important thing is to be confident and happy with what I'm doing and to do everything I can,” he said.
However, Nadal acknowledged that it's not easy to find a weakness in Djokovic's game.
“He's a complete player, he can do everything. He defends very well, better than he did before. He can attack very well, like he did before. He's very, very good, that's the problem. He has all the shots.
“He beat me in the last four Masters but I beat him in lots of important things in the past — the semifinals of the Olympics, the final of the US Open, two semifinals at Roland Garros.
“We will see what happens in the future.”
Devvarman loses
Meanwhile, Somdev Devvarman crashed out of the Nice Open, losing 6-3, 7-6(7) to Adrian Mannarino in the first round.
Devvarman suffered a first-round loss in the doubles also as he and Ryan Sweeting lost 6-2, 6-2 to Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek.
Other results: First round:At Nice (Nice Open): Pere Riba bt Gulliame Rufin 6-2, 6-2; Victor Hanescu bt Benoit Paire 6-0, 6-1; Pablo Andujar bt Grigory Dimitrov 5-0 retired.; Denis Istomin bt Olivier Rochus 6-2, 7-6(5). Alexandr Dolgopolov bt Filippo Volandri 7-5, 6-3; Adrian Mannarino bt Somdev Devvarman 6-3, 7-6(7). Doubles: Frantisek Cermak & Filip Polasek bt Somdev Devvarman & Ryan Sweeting 6-2, 6-2.
At Strasbourg (Strasbourg International): Anabel Medina Garrigues bt Melanie Oudin 6-3, 6-1; Mathilde Johansson bt Agkul Amanmuradova 6-1, 6-1; Nadia Petrova bt Rebecca Marino 7-6(4), 6-3; Maria Kirilenko bt Kristina Barrois 6-2, 6-3; Laura Pous-Tio bt Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-2. Doubles: Angelique Kerber & Katarzyna Piter bt Lucie Hradecka & Sania Mirza 5-7, 6-2, 12-10.
At Dusseldorf (World Team Cup): Round Robin:Red group: Argentina bt Kazakhstan 3-0 (Juan Monaco bt Andrei Golubev 6-4, 6-0; Juan-Ignacio Chela bt Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 6-2; Maximo Gonzalez & Juan Monaco bt Andrei Golubev & Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 6-3).
USA ties Sweden 1-1 [Sam Querrey loses to Robin Soderling 5-7, 7-5 7-6(3); John Isner bt Christian Lindell 6-4, 6-1].
Blue group: Germany leads Serbia 2-0 [Florian Mayer bt Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-2; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 7-6(5)]
Spain ties Russia 1-1 (Marcel Granollers & Marc Lopez bt Victor Baluda & Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2; Marcel Granollers lost to Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-4).
