Haas downs Djokovic to win Halle title

Tommy Haas won his first title in more than two years when he beat world number four Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 in the Halle tournament final on Sunday.

Haas, a former world number two who had not won a title since Memphis in 2007 after being plagued by a shoulder injury, was the more consistent in a baseline encounter that lasted two hours 12 minutes.

Both players stayed on the baseline and initially held serve comfortably, allowing no break opportunity. The 31-year-old Haas, world number 41, finally carved out a break at 4-3 to serve out the set a game later.

Djokovic, who has had trouble adjusting to the grass after a long clay court season, added more variety to his game, rushing at times to the net to force a tiebreak in the second set.

The 22-year-old Serbian took advantage of an erratic Haas, who double-faulted three times in the tiebreak to hand Djokovic the set.

Djokovic himself double-faulted on a break point to allow Haas to grab a 2-0 lead in the third set. He then wasted four break points of his own, allowing the German to go 3-0 up before being broken again.