NOVAK DJOKOVIC and Ana Ivanovic, 20-year-old Serbs who rapidly have established themselves among tennis’ top players, won Pacific Life Open titles in Indian Wells, California, the United States, on Sunday.

Djokovic ended American Mardy Fish’s string of upsets with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory, and Ivanovic downed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3.

Djokovic and Ivanovic figure to represent their country well in tennis, since they both already have accomplished a great deal and seem to be getting even better.

He’s No. 3 behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who both lost at Indian Wells. Only Justine Henin, who skipped the tournament, is ranked above No. 2 Ivanovic.

The Serbian stars just missed a sweep in the Australian Open. Djokovic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the men’s title, and Ivanovic lost to Maria Sharapova in their final.

Both Djokovic and Ivanovic won their championship matches at Indian Wells mostly by powering shots down the lines, although Djokovic obviously had a tougher time with No. 98 Fish.

Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in the final last year, knocked off Nadal in the semifinals this time.

Despite the loss, Fish had a remarkable run at Indian Wells. He had never beaten two top-10 players in a tournament before, but he upset No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko and No. 7 David Nalbandian before stunning Federer in the semifinals. The 26-year-old Fish, who rose to No. 17 four years ago but has been hampered by injuries, will move up to the top 50 in the next rankings.

In the women’s match, Ivanovic used well-placed groundstrokes to keep Kuznetsova scrambling from side to side. She capped her victory with a shot that seemed to typify her play in the final: she whipped a forehand down the line on a service return.

(SD-Agencies)