The desert’s Inland Empire became a Serbian enclave yesterday as, for the first time, two players from the youthful Balkan nation became champions on the same day. A little more than two hours separated the successes of Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic and even an American crowd rooting as lustily as they could for a home success in the men’s final could not deny the justness of the outcome at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California.

Djokovic was within two points of mirroring Ivanovic’s straight-sets victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova, only for Mardy Fish to suggest he may have the wherewithal to produce two of the more extraordinary results in the men’s game in successive days. Having dispatched Roger Federer in straight sets late on Saturday, was it not an improbable leap of faith to suggest that he might send the world No 3 packing?

Unfortunately for him - and as scintillating a splash as he made for a world No 98 - this particular Fish could not keep wriggling off the hook. Djokovic, who won 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, would be a redoubtable angler, for he has patience to spare and, despite occasional frustration, he is content to wait around until his crafty court play lands the big one.

Fish was the lowest-ranked player to reach a final of this magnitude since Andrei Pavel lost to one Tim Henman at the BNP Paribas Masters in 2003 (Henman also defeated Federer en route) and the situation did not faze him, recovering from 3-0 down in the first set to trade powerful baseline blows with the favourite. The outcome may have been different had Fish taken one of the three break points he snaffled in the first game of the final set, but Djokovic, after throwing his cap to the side of the court, promptly served three aces. Fish was fried.

The decision of Maria Sharapova to withdraw from next week’s Sony Ericsson Open in Miami is profound in many ways, not least that the tournament sponsor - the umbrella sponsor for the entire WTA Tour for a cool $80 million (about £40 million) - has just become her personal mobile phone sponsor. There is a lot of fine print examination and hand-wringing going on.

Sharapova, the world No 5 and Australian Open champion, has a troublesome shoulder and apparently did not take much convincing that she should rest. In these cases, the position of Larry Scott, chief executive of the WTA Tour, is invidious. Can he be sure that Sharapova’s injury is “legitimate” and what penalties should be invoked against her for a no-show? The tour is working through a number of proposals that it intends to push through in time for the 2009 season, with zero point penalties, loss of bonus pool rewards and potential heavy fines and suspensions for those who fail to do their best by the sport.