Serbia's Novak Djokovic [ Images ] won the first medal of the Olympic [ Images ] tennis tournament on Saturday, beating American James Blake [ Images ] 6-3, 7-6 to go home with bronze.

The world number three, narrowly beaten by Spain's Rafael Nadal [ Images ] in Friday's semi-final, broke early in the first set and was rock solid throughout.

Blake, who ended Swiss world number one Roger Federer's [ Images ] run in the singles on Thursday, made a scrap of it in the second set and Djokovic became rattled, smashing his racket at 4-4.

However, the Australian Open [ Images ] champion went 6-4 ahead in the tiebreaker and fell to his knees in joy when Blake put a backhand into the tramlines.

The Serb celebrated by throwing most of his kit, including his rackets and shirt, into the crowd after holding aloft the Serbian flag.

Photograph: Getty Images