Novak Djokovic Stuns Federer In Rogers Cup Final
Posted August 12, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Surprise, surprise, Roger Federer didn’t win the Rogers Cup. Maybe it’s not Roger’s after all.
Actually, many people were stunned by Sunday’s result at a windry, rainy final at Montreal’s Uniprix Stadium, as rising Serbian star Novak Djokovic won a seesaw 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-6 (2) and with it, the $2.45 million Master Series event before a full house of 11,000.
“It’s a dream come true to win such a strong tournament as this and to win against probably the best player ever in the sport,” Djokovic told fans from centre court before doing a victory lap.
He added with a grin: “I hope (Federer) won’t be angry, but he can’t win everything. Give him a break. Someone else has to win some time.”
It was the third-seeded Djokovic’s fourth tournament win this year and his first win in five career matches against Federer, whose 16-match Rogers Cup winning run ended.
Meanwhile, the 20-year-old showed tremendous resiliency, battling back from down 0-40 on six set points and staving off an elimination many thought would be imminent.
Djokovic rose from No. 83 into the top 20 last year and has continued to move up into the tennis elite this season. Now he’ll be back in third, a spot he held on July 9 before giving it up to Andy Roddick.
Also impressive, with wins over Roddick and No. 2 Rafael Nadal in his previous rounds, he became the first player to beat the world’s top three players in the same tournament since German Boris Becker downed No. 3 Michael Stich, No. 1 Pete Sampras and No. 2 Goran Ivanisevic in succession in 1994 in Stockholm .
Federer has been ranked No. 1 a record 184 consecutive weeks since 2004.
