Novak Djokovic wins the China Open
It was a second-straight final for Novak Djokovic where rain had delayed play for at least a day. This time however, Djokovic came out on top after defeating Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2,
6-4 at the China Open.
Djokovic lost the rain-delayed U.S. Open final to Rafael Nadal just over a month ago.
Play was rained out on Sunday with Djokovic holding a 3-1 lead in the first set before play resumed again on Monday. It was the second straight victory for Djokovic at the China Open,
and in doing so, he became the first back-to-back winner in the six-year history of the tournament. Djokovic is now a perfect 9-0 at the ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tournament in Beijing.
"[I'm] just happy to win another tournament and make my record here in Beijing even better," said Djokovic. "It's definitely one of the most successful tournaments in my career."
It was only the second tournament win this year for Djokovic. In February, he won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships over Mikhail Youzhny in what was ironically, another rain-delayed
final.
Djokovic cruised to victory in 85 minutes after winning the first set easily at 6-2. Ferrer provided some spark in the second set, but the top-ranked Serb was just too strong in all parts
of his game. Djokovic was able to break Ferrer’s serve four times and he was also dominant on his serve, winning 71 percent of his service points. However, Djokovic was modest after the win, claiming both players made a lot of unforced errors.
"I started off really well, but then I lost the momentum," admitted Djokovic. "I kind of lost the rhythm, got him back into the match with some unforced errors, and it wasn't a really
nice looking match from both sides. We made a lot of unforced errors."
Ferrer admitted he had his chance to perhaps extend the match to a third set but lost the crucial eighth game due to a lack of concentration.
"I think he played with no mistakes and I made little mistakes in the second set [at] 4-3," said Ferrer. "I had my chance there. I had two advantages and I [hit] one double fault. But
he played well. Me, maybe when I lost this game, I lost a little bit [of] my concentration."
The 23-year-old Djokovic picked up $500,000 and 500 South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings points with the win to remain the second-ranked tennis player in the world. Earlier in the week,
Djokovic also became the third player to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November joining Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
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