Dubai, UAE  - Novak Djokovic gave his confidence a huge boost on Saturday as he tuned up for next week's Davis Cup tie with Spain with a trophy at the Barclays Championships 7-5, 6-3 over David Ferrer.

The Serb top seed said that prior to the upcoming challenge on clay in front of a Spanish crowd of 15,000 in Benidorm, he feels his game is lifting after securing his first title of a slow-starting 2009 season.

Djokovic won an event which was decimated by late withdrawals, including former winners Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

"This was a strong event even with the pullouts. I had a great week. This win will help my confidence.

"I haven't started this year like I wanted, I changed rackets as well, but I take responsibility for that.

"But this win can help next week even in completely different conditions and in front of a Spanish crowd."

The Serb world number 3 improved to 4-3 against Spain's scampering Ferrer, the second finalist from his nation in as many years at the Aviation club after Feliciano Lopez lost in 2008 to Andy Roddick.

Djokovic earned took his 12th career trophy to lift his season record to 14-4 after a match with eight breaks of serve.

"Now I want to focus with the Davis Cup," said Ferrer. "We will play at home in clay court, my surface favorite, and we will see then."

Ferrer, despite chasing down every ball, was unable to impose his game on Djokovic, playing his first final in his third appearance at the event.

"He played better than me, and served better. He played very, very focused. But I'm happy with my game, but maybe the key was he's a better tennis player than me," admitted the Spaniard.

The pair met on a court which had to be repeatedly swept for loose sand before the start after a minor dust storm blew through earlier during daylight hours.

Ferrer now stand 7-6 in ATP finals.

"David is known as one of the hardest workers on the Tour," said Djokovic. "He makes you work for every game, for every winner. He did that again tonight."

Djokovic made heavy weather of what turned into a 51-minute opening set, which featured a run of four consecutive breaks of serve midway through.

He took a 4-1 lead in the second set, lost a break but recovered in the end to come through on a match point decided on an electronic line-call in just over 90 minutes. (dpa)