Roger Federer’s glamour faded in the face of young Novak Djokovic on Sunday, the Serb managing to outclass the world number one after a strenuous game in the Montreal Masters final.

Djokovic continued his ascension with a hard-fought victory against a fading Federer, who seemed to be off court most of Sunday’s match. The first three games were clinched by the 20-year-old Serb with some amazing display of force and accuracy.
Federer got back on his feet quickly with a world-class serve and precise shots that bursted Djokovic’s bubble, 3-3. Since then, both players took advantage of their own serve and went neck to neck until a first tiebreak.

That was a real test for Djokovic, who amazed the crowd with his defence and powerful returns, especially the forehands. Point after point, the Serb climbed higher and higher on the scoreboard until he finally grabbed a first set, 7-6.

Djokovic kept hanging on to Federer’s infernal rhythm, but after four games the Swiss began a one-man race to level the score with classy shots worthy of an ATP leader, 2-6.

A third and decisive set began with Djokovic getting a grip on his play with the powerful hits and aggressiveness that subdued Rafael Nadal in the semifinal. Nole broke loose in the fourth game, but couldn’t keep up the pace and Federer came down hard with his cutting edge shots and leveled once more, 4-4.

Again, a race to the top began with both players changing roles until another tense tiebreak. Federer stepped into the decisive round with the wrong foot and after a challenged call gave the point to Djokovic, fiasco was beginning to show its grin for Federer.

A series of unprovoked errors from Federer and pin-point shots from Djokovic, sealed the fate of this year’s edition of Canada’s Masters, 7-6 for the Belgrade-born and dark clouds appeared over Federer’s court.

“This is the best day of my career,” Djokovic said after a dream finally against the world number one.

“It's like a dream come true, especially against Federer in the finals, to win those tiebreakers was just incredible. I managed to win these tiebreaks against a player who probably has the best score in tiebreakers, who is the strongest player mentally in the world right now.”

Federer didn’t seem to affected by this loss, saying the season’s main objective has been achieved and other tournaments will follow.

“The goal this season was to win Wimbledon - done that. Try to stay number one in the world - it would have helped to win today,” the Swiss said.

”But you can't have it all. I'm looking at the US Open, looking down the road, well, the (November) Masters Cup. There's still a long way to go. I can't start being disappointing about just one match. He played well. I couldn't get the job done.”