World No 2 Novak Djokovic took his season's winning record to 27-0 yesterday when he defeated Spain's Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 to win the Belgrade ATP claycourt title.

The 23-year-old, who also won the Belgrade title in 2009, now stands just two wins away from equalling Ivan Lendl's record of a 29-0 winning season start, set in 1986.


Novak Djokovic

In a final interrupted by rain, Djokovic was made to battle for one hour and 56 minutes.

Elsewhere, Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro won his first claycourt tournament in 22 months with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Fernando Verdasco at the Estoril Open in Portugal.

The victory was the second of the season for the 2009 US Open champion, who missed 10 months of 2010 as he recovered from surgery on his right wrist.

Also, Russia's Nikolay Davydenko won Munich's ATP tournament for the second time in his career with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Germany's Florian Mayer.

Davydenko, who last won the clay-court tournament in Munich in 2004, blasted down seven aces, four in the first set alone, to claim his 21st ATP title and his first since Doha in January 2010.