Novak Djokovic wins China Open title
Novak Djokovic has backed his qualification for the World Tour Finals in November with a successful title defence at the China Open.
The world No. 2 qualified for the season-ending tournament by reaching the final in Beijing (with a 7-6(1), 6-2 win over Wimbledon marathon man John Isner) and claimed the title with a 6-2, 6-4 win over David Ferrer, with the biggest drama of the match caused by Beijing’s inclement weather.
Djokovic was leading his 10th-ranked opponent 3-1 in the opening set when the rain set in on Sunday, forcing organisers to delay the completion of the decider until Monday.
When play did finally resume, the top seed cruised to victory over the Spaniard in one hour and 24 minutes, breaking his opponent’s serve on four occasions (Ferrer broke Djokovic once) and winning 70% of his first serves.
The victory handed Djokovic his second title of 2010 (after winning in Dubai during February) and continues the strong run of form the Serb showed at the US Open, where he defeated Roger Federer in the semi-finals before losing to Rafael Nadal in four sets in the final.
And if Djokovic looks to be at the top of his game this autumn, Shanghai top seed Nadal is also showing no signs of slowing down, having won his seventh title of 2010 at the Japan Open in Tokyo on the weekend.
The 23-year-old Djokovic also joins Nadal and Federer as the first three players to qualify for the World Tour Finals in London where he will be seeking to reprise the result he produced in 2008 (when the tournament was known as the Tennis Masters Cup and held in China) when he defeated Nikolay Davydenko in the final to claim the title.
Next up for Djokovic though is the Shanghai Masters 1000 – where play is underway – which features a field that includes every player in the top 20.
Meanwhile, in the China Open doubles, Bob and Mike Bryan’s successful 2010 continued, with the world No. 1 ranked doubles pair winning their 10th title of the year and moving to an 18-match winning streak in the process.
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