Novak Djokovic... masterful.

World number one Novak Djokovic became the first player to win the opening three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events when he defeated Tomas Berdych 7-5 4-6 6-3 at Monte Carlo yesterday.

Djokovic had overpowered eight-time champion Rafael Nadal to reach the final, not dropping a set on his 2015 clay-court debut last week.

However, the 27-year-old Serb did not have it all his own way in a rain-hit match against Berdych, who had forced a break in the very first game and later rallied to force a deciding set.

Djokovic, though, eventually came through to extend his winning streak to 17 matches and the advantage over Roger Federer in the world rankings to more than 5,000 points.

Berdych had signalled his intent with an early break, only for Djokovic to regain his composure and lead 5-3 before eventually closing out the first set after 53 minutes.

Djokovic was 3-2 up in the second before rain took the players off court for 70 minutes.

Berdych, the world number eight who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January, came back refreshed and broke at 4-3 before levelling the match with some powerful forehands.

However, a string of unforced errors from the Czech in the decider then allowed Djokovic to move into a 4-0 lead, from which he closed out victory in two hours and 43 minutes.