It’s time to take another deep bow to the rapidly-rising Serbs. For the first time ever, the third-ranked Djokovic and the second-ranked Ivanovic won Tier I titles on the same court and at the same locale, at the Pacific Life Open in IndianWells. Once again, tiny but bold Serbia, (population 10.1 million) stole the headlines, this time in California’s (population 37 million) most important event.

Ivanovic and Djokovic used to practice and play hide and seek together as kids. If anyone had told them that they would be cashing a collective $887,000 in checks on a sunny Easter Sunday, Djokovic would have replied, “You’re joking with me. But this is something I think that we absolutely deserve. We’ve been working very hard throughout our lives and this is just a crown for our work, and it’s paying off.”

Djokovic ended AmericanMardy Fish’s stunning run to the final in a clinical 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory. Fish had knocked off a slew of standouts en route to the final: fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko, two-time Grand Slam champ Lleyton Hewitt, formerWimbledon finalist David Nalbandian and the stunner of stunners, top-ranked Roger Federer.

But none of those men have displayed the all-court savvy, quickness and know-how of Aussie Open titlist Djokovic this year. As No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal found out in the semis (when Djokovic dunked him) and Fish found out in the final, there are few places to hit to. Djokovic must be bowled over, and he’s so rock solid right now that a player would need two sledgehammers to dent in his armor.

“He’s a very complete player,” said Nadal, who came into the match with a 6-2 record against Djokovic. “Very good serve, very good backhand, very good forehand. He’s moving fast and moving well. He has very good position on court. He feels the position inside the court very easy, and that’s very difficult when you’re playing with these fast balls. He can do it, so that’s an exceptional quality.”

Djokovic wouldn’t be so bold as to say that he’s the best player in the world just yet, but he’s won the two biggest events of ‘08 and is well ahead in theATP Points Race. He’s only 450 points behind Nadal, and although he has to defend hisMiami title, even if he gets tripped up there, one would have to like his chance of catching the Spaniard by July, if not earlier.

Fish sees top ranking written all over the man nicknamed “Nole.”

“I think the results speak for themselves,” Fish said. “He’s got all the weapons. He doesn’t have any weaknesses. He’s extremely competitive, which is obviously a loose term. There are different levels, and he’s on the top levels of those. He wants to win badly, and he’s got game, for sure.”

And then there’s Federer, who’s coming off a bout of mono, hasn’t won a title this year and looked slow, weak and unsure of himself in his shocking 6-3, 6-2 loss to flying and attacking Fish, his first loss to anAmerican in 42 matches.

“I can only give credit toMardy and these matches sometimes come around,” Federer said. “I’m surprised myself it hasn’t happened more in the last five years. You always think one guy can outright dominate you on any given day. People weren’t able to do it against me, so that speaks for myself. ButMardy was really impossible to beat. He was never in doubt. “

But when Djokovic’s back was against the wall after two racketthrowing incidents in a second set that could have been his, he knocked it down. He was down 40-0 in the opening game of the third set and responded with three straight aces. The ultraconfident Serb is nothing but resilient and calmly yanked Fish about the court for the rest of the set and match.

“It’s a big run,” Djokovic said. “I’m getting things together, and I started believing in myself much more than I used to last year. When you start winning the major events, you have proved to yourself and to everybody else that you have quality to be there at the top, and it’s just a matter of mental ability and mental strength. I worked on that throughout these two years, and I think I gained that with experience.”

Sigmund Freud, Ivanovic’s favorite famous psychologist and author of choice, once wrote, “America is a mistake, a giant mistake.” Not for two weeks in the California desert for the sweet-faced, sweetswinging Serbian siren, who won her first Tier I title in the U.S. by overpowering Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3.

For the first time in her increasingly stellar career, Ivanovic came into a Tier I event as the top seed and ably plowed through the field, showing none of the fragile nerves that had derailed her decision-making in the ‘08 Australian Open final against Maria Sharapova, or locked her feet up in the ‘07 French Open final against Justine Henin.

“I was a little bit nervous coming into this tournament,” she said. “It’s such a strong field and still I’m No. 1 seed. Obviously, more pressure comes into play. The first few matches I was more nervous, but then I just started to focus on each match and not think about whom I play, just to do what I have been doing in practice. So thinking technically what I had to do and as the tournament was going on, I played better.”

The world No. 2 declared at the outset of the tournament that she has designs on No. 1 this year, saying that top-ranked Justine Henin was vulnerable and believing that her own push to No. 2 wasn’t just a flight of fancy.

For two hot, dry weeks inMarch, she proved that she’smore than just an up and down, big-time talent who might to be too nice and too inconsistent to stay with hungrier elite players.

Kuznetsova had stopped an exhausted Sharapova’s 18-match winning streak in the semis with a relentless, chop-the-tall-blonde’s-legs-outfrom- under-her strategy, and looked in prime form to do much the same against statuesque Ivanovic, who’s in better shape than she was last year, but who has a history of tiring out in big moments. But the Serbian never let Kuznetsova get her claws into the match, keeping the points short and dictating time and time again with her gargantuan forehand, steady and deceptive backhand and bullet returns.

She broke the Russian at 4-4 in the first set with two monstrous forehand winners that even the Olympic cyclist’s daughter couldn’t pedal fast enough to catch up to. She hammered a forehand-down-the-line return-ofserve winner to break Kuznetsova at 3-3 in the second set, and then in the final game let loose another forehand cannon shot off a decent Kuznetsova serve to win her sixth career title.

She let out a girlish squeal upon winning the title, not exactly the type of sound you’d usually hear from a woman who hangs around Barnes and Noble in her off-time sipping coffee with two fat tomes of Freud on her lap, but nonetheless, a primal scream that theAustrian father of psychoanalysis would appreciate.

“Even if I’m angry or when I’m positive sometimes I do little squeak,” said Ivanovic, who ripped 30 winners in the match, with 15 coming off her vaunted forehand side. “I don’t try to do it. It was a lot of emotion and tension built up inside, so it was just a moment of happiness.”

Ivanovic has had a steady rise toward the top of the charts, but the 20- year-old who grew up in war-torn Serbia, has by no means had a meteoric rise a la Sharapova, who won her first Slam title in ‘04 at the age of 17 and reached No. 1 a year later.

The Serbian won her first title at tiny Canberra in ‘05, her next at Tier I Montreal in ‘06 and last year, she nailed down three crowns—Berlin, L.A. and Luxembourg. She also reached the French Open final, and theWimbledon and Sony Ericsson WTATour Championships semis.

When she was in great health and a perfect mid-space, she could unleash her ultra powerful, creative game and come though. But when she was dealing with minor injuries, or tired, or unsure as to whether she had the talent too stay with the big girls, she faltered. So she turned to Freud for some advice as to how to approach matches —sort of.

“It’s amazing the way the mind works,” said Ivanovic, who also bested Francesca Schiavone, Vera Zvonareva, her in-country rival Jelena Jankovic en route to the title. “Obviously, I’m a very emotional person and even when I’m on court, I always think so much. There are a few types of anxiety, so when you’re nervous, what can you do to prevent it, or what happens when you get nervous and what kind of emotions are stronger than the others? So that’s something I’ve learned, and to also learn how to control it.”

Ivanovic also came into ‘08 in much better shape, which allows her to skip around and set up her devastating forehand. Her serve, which has been a work in progress for three years now, also has become more of a weapon as she’s spotting her flat first serve more accurately and her kick serve has more bite. She didn’t dominate the tour in her teenager years like her former idol, Monica Seles, but she’s clearly coming into her own, on her own terms. As Freud once said, dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.

“I needed more time to get mature and to realize what potential I have,” she said. “My coaches always believed in me, and they always said I had potential to win Grand Slams.As long as I didn’t believe it inside it was impossible for me to do it. But now slowly I believe that I can do it, and also competing against top players and beating them regularly. Trying to win big tournaments, that’s also something that gives you confidence and it’s necessary in order to win a Grand Slam. I think I’m in a good way.”