Defending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals champion Novak Djokovic made a winning start to his title defence by battling to defeat Nikolay Davydenko 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in a repeat of the 2008 final on Monday evening at The O2 in south-east London.

Djokovic had defeated Davydenko both in the round-robin stage and in the final of the season finale in Shanghai last year, but lost in a third-set tie-break to the Russian last month in the semi-finals of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, presented by Rolex.

Victory extends Djokovic’s winning streak to 11 matches. The 22 year old came into the year-end championship as the hottest player on tour, having beaten Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in successive weeks en route to claiming back-to-back titles at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel and the BNP Paribas Masters (d. Monfils) in Paris (Bercy). Since a semi-final loss to Federer at the US Open he has recorded a 19-1 mark, also titling at the China Open (d. Cilic) in Beijing.

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"I wasn't feeling that great on the court," confessed Djokovic. "Physically wise, I was a bit slow, kind of couldn't get in great rhythm. With reactions, as well. But I'm just happy to win the first match. I knew that it's going to be long one. Davydenko is in great form, [a] very aggressive player. But in the end, [I am] quite happy to get through.

"I really think he was a better player in the first two sets and maybe overall in the whole match," admitted Djokovic. "But when you have bad days, you still manage find a way to win. I think that's something that is great to have in your game."

The second singles match in Group B was a real tussle from start to finish, with neither player able to build up momentum in a contest riddled with unforced errors. The seventh-ranked Davydenko drew first blood as he broke serve to lead 3-2 and great attacking play from the Russian, in which he maneuvered Djokovic from side to side before punching a volley into the open court, helped him break serve again in the ninth game to seal the set.

Djokovic, winner of the 2008 Australian Open, showed his fighting qualities in the second set, though, and wore Davydenko down to earn his first strike of the match. With the pressure building at 4-4, Davydenko broke down in the baseline rally and dumped a forehand into the net before hooking a forehand wide to lose serve for the first time. Djokovic struggled to close out the set as unforced errors continued to creep into his game at inopportune moments, but held strong to level the match with a scorching forehand into the corner.

The Serbian was able to press home his advantage at the start of the third set with an early service break and held strong on serve until 5-4, when an inspired Davydenko nailed a backhand into the corner from outside the tramlines to surge back into contention at 5-5.

As had been the pattern of the match, though, the highs became lows very quickly and a string of loose errors cost Davydenko dearly in the following game as the Russian committed his 33rd unforced error of the match to surrender serve. Djokovic did not falter at the second time of asking and closed out victory after two hours and 47 minutes. As the crowd showed its appreciation of the battle with a standing ovation, the two players swapped shirts and embraced at the net.

Despite the loss, Davydenko was confident he can still advance to the semi-finals. "I know I showed my good tennis today. It's really great, but I lost. Still I have some chance. We'll see [in the] next match I have against Nadal. But maybe I have some confidence. Maybe [I am] disappointed a little bit. But we'll see what can happen."

Djokovic is riding a wave of confidence at the moment and leads the ATP World Tour with 77 match wins and 52 hard-court victories in 2009. The Belgrade native has captured five ATP World Tour titles from a career-high 10 finals, having also triumphed earlier in the season at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (d. Ferrer) and the inaugural Serbia Open 2009 (d. Kubot) in his hometown.

The 28-year-old Davydenko has been one of the strongest forces on tour in the second part of the season after an early-season foot injury limited him to just five tournaments until the end of April. The Volgograd resident has since captured four ATP World Tour titles, including victory at the Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai (d. Nadal), and has compiled a 53-17 mark.