World record holder Asafa Powell sped to a world leading victory in 9.97 seconds to capture the 100 metres at the Artur Takac Memorial in Serbia yesterday evening. In the top performance of the night, Powell outgunned a pair of Caribbean colleagues and was very pleased to deliver the sub-10 clocking he was hoping for in front of 15,000 fans at Partizan Stadium.

"Of course I'm satisfied," said Powell, whose overseas season-opener had been delayed over a month because of knee trouble.

"What a relief. I'm really happy to get it over with. I'm happy with it and am looking forward to bigger things," he added.

Powell, who holds the 100-metre world record at 9.77 seconds, ran conservatively from the start and quickened away from the field after about 50 metres.

He strode to a convincing win ahead of Curaçao's Churandy Martina (10.11) and his Jamaican team-mate Michael Frater (10.19).

Apart from being a 2007 world best, erasing the previous mark of 9.98 by Bahamian Derrick Atkins, Powell's time was also the fastest ever recorded in Serbia.

"It's going to be a long season, it was 9.9, so I'm very happy," Powell said after clocking the 26th sub-10 clocking of his career.