Second ranked Novak Djokovic extends his unbeaten run to 24-0 after beating top ranked tennis player Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) at the finals of the ATP Masters Miami recording the best start to a year since Ivan Lendl went 25-0 in 1986.

The Serbian’s latest victory is his fourth this year after winning the Australian Open, Dubai Open, and consecutive Masters titles at Indian Wells and Miami, both over Nadal. The Spaniard will, however, remain in the top spot despite still having no title since Tokyo in October 2010. Becoming the top player in the world is still far from the mind of Djokovic, who acknowledges that he needs to be consistent throughout the year to supplant Nadal.

The match lasted for nearly 3 ½ hours and ended when Djokovic hit a forehand cross court on his third match point. Whatever fatigue he felt during the match slowly disappeared with the victory. It was Djokovic’s second title in Miami, winning the first in 2007. He joins Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, and Pete Sampras as the only players to capture the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami in one ATP season.

Nadal took control of the game early with a break of serve to get the upper hand 2-1 in the first set, marking the first time Djokovic was broken throughout the tournament. Rafa broke the Serbian again for a 4-1 advantage but was broken as well while serving for the first set in the eight game.

It was the third time that Nadal finished runner-up in Miami after losing in the finals in 2005 and 2008. He has yet to win a title here.

In the women’s side, Victoria Azarenka defeated three-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova of Russia 6-1, 6-4. It was her sixth career title while keeping the Russian without a title since May 2010. Azarenka will move up to number six in the world when the updated rankings is released next week.

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