Djokovic shrugs off Monfils challenge

PARIS (Reuters) - Serbia's Novak Djokovic shrugged off a brave challenge from crowd favorite Gael Monfils to claim the Paris Masters title with a 6-2 5-7 7-6 win on Sunday.

World number three Djokovic, who had outclassed Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals and had dropped only one set en route to the final, had to dig deep to win his second title in as many weeks.

Outplayed at first, Monfils, seeded 15th, thrilled a partisan 14,000 crowd packing the Bercy hall by fighting back to win the second set and recovering from 4-1 down to level the decisive set before losing it 7-3 in a tiebreak.

Djokovic, who beat world number one Roger Federer in the Basel final week, showed signs of nerves at times and had to wait for Monfils to double fault on the first match point to seal victory after two hours 43 minutes.

The 22-year-old Serb has won 76 matches this year, more than any other player, although disappointing results at major events stopped him from getting anywhere near the number one spot.

His current form suggests, however, that he will be the favorite at the season-ending November 22-29 World Tour Finals in London and could give Federer and Nadal a run for their money in 2010.

Relying on his devastating forehand and hardly making an error in the first set, Djokovic put the pressure on by winning the first game to love and then breaking his opponent courtesy of an unforced error from Monfils.

The Frenchman went on to lose the set with a double fault after just 30 minutes.

The second set's script was similar at first, another unforced error from Monfils handing Djokovic a 2-0 lead, and a crushing win looked on the cards but the Serb then dropped his guard, enabling his opponent to find his way back into the match.

Hope returned for Monfils when Djokovic netted a volley to lose his service game in the fifth game. The 23-year-old Paris-born player went on to earn break points in the seventh and ninth games but wasted them both.

In the 11th game, however, Monfils seized his chance by hitting a return winner to serve for the set, which he took with a service winner.

Monfils, playing his first final in a Masters 1000 event, then staged his remarkable comeback in the third set under roars of appreciation from the crowd but was left still chasing his third career title.

(Editing by John Mehaffey)