Third-seeded Novak Djokovic captured his maiden ATP title in his first final at the Dutch Open Tennis in Amersfoort on Sunday. The 19-year-old did not drop a set at the championship and beat No. 4 seed Nicolas Massu 7-6(5), 6-4 in two hours and 41 minutes.

Djokovic became the sixth first time winner of the 2006 ATP season, joining Jarkko Nieminen (Finland), Andy Murray (San Jose), Radek Stepanek (Rotterdam), Luis Horna (Acapulco), Nicolas Almagro (Valencia) and Daniele Bracciali (Casablanca).

The Serbian was also the third teenage ATP winner, alongside Murray and Nadal – a winner in Dubai, ATP Masters Series Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and ATP Masters Series Rome in 2006.

Massu, the 2003 champion, fought back from a 4-1 first set deficit to force a tie-break, which Djokovic claimed in one hour and 29 minutes.

Djokovic broke the Massu serve on two of five opportunities in the second set and finished the match having won 29 of 38 points on first serve with nine aces and three doubles faults.

Massu was looking for his seventh title in his 14th career final. This season the 26-year-old has won at Costa do Sauipe (d. A. Martin) in February and finished runner-up in Vina del Mar (l. to Acasuso) and Casablanca (l to. Bracciali),

Djokovic may rise to a career-high No. 26 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings on Monday, from his current position of No. 36.

He started the year ranked No. 78, and now holds a 24-11-match record with one semifinal in Zagreb and quarterfinals at Rotterdam and Roland Garros.

You forget Gasquet Wula boy: 2 titles(!)

Gasquet was aged 20 when he won both those tournaments. Nottingham started a day after his 20th birthday

BTW whats Wulaboy?

Oops. Sorry.

Wulawulahoo!

congratulations to Novak Djokovic! :clap:

great stuff from Djokovic :ok: he really is starting to show his potential isn;t he?

Djokovic really is a stellar young player isnt he? Had great sucess this year, quarters of the French, round of 16 at wimbledon and now a winner in Amersfoort. The thing i love about Djokovic is that his technique is so sound, unlike the likes of murray and Monfils. His groundstrokes are so potent off both sides and is a superb mover, one of the best in the mens game.

i can see him making an even bigger impact in the Slams next year :ok:

Spot on dl. I can't analyse as well as you wiht your excelent tennis knowledge, but now you have said it I knwo exactly what you mean. He isn;t as sloppy as some of the other youngsters is he and he does seem to have a very honed game for a youngster. Yes he can move too, and from what I can tell is good on all surfaces, so a potential threat to Nadal maybe on clay, maybe even Federer if he develops hi sgrass game. He does play a full on game too doesn;t he and is quite exciting to watch. He's a mate of Murrays apparently, maybe he coudl help him out a bit as he is no where near as good as Djoko at the mo. Yes I do see him as a serious contender for a slam. I'm expecting to see him reaching semis within the next two years anyway.

Hear hear,

Fabulous player, has some fabulous groundstrokes.. Nice player to watch.

His match with Ancic was one of the best of Wimbledon this year, imo.

Also, after Nadal, for me he is the pick of the bunch of young players, with the brightest future.

I think that we will be hearing a lot more of Novak in the future.. :)

so close to two in a row. he retired whilst leading wawrinka at the final at umag - according to MTF posters it was because "he was exhausted, struggling to breathe and he was physically trembling." not at all surprised given the amount of tennis he has played this past fortnight (given that hes not experienced it before).

Nole to break into the top 15-20 this year tho' hopefully!