Second seed Novak Djokovic secured his third ATP title of the year with victory in the China Open, outlasting Marin Cilic in the final.
Serb claims third title of the year
Second seed Novak Djokovic secured his third ATP title of the year with victory in the China Open, outlasting Marin Cilic to win 6-2 7-6 (7-4) in a rain-interrupted final in Beijing.
The intense baseline battle saw Serbian Djokovic, who will move up to number three in the world over Andy Murray later this month, take advantage of a 90-minute rain delay which came at 2-2 in the first set and return to the court with renewed drive.
Djokovic retained his 100 per cent career record against the Croatian world number 15 by employing sharp ground strokes and well-placed serves, with big-hitting Cilic making a number of errors.
"Even though it was a straight sets win, it could easily have gone the other way," said Djokovic, who went home with the $500,000 prize money.
"I think I was a little bit saved by the rain delay. I got my nerves together and managed to play well."
Cilic, who had already beaten fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko and performed a two-set demolition of top seed Rafael Nadal en route to the final, attacked with a volley of huge shots from the back of the court, but Djokovic mixed up the pace to throw him off his rhythm.
Dangerous
The Croatian had looked the more dangerous of the duo before the rain break, but struggled to regain momentum following the interruption and after holding serve to go up 3-2, the Serb broke him straight away and then a second time to take the opening set, with Cilic suffering two unlucky net cords in the final game.
In the second, Cilic traded breaks with the Serb three times to force a tie-break, with the Croatian failing to serve out the set.
Djokovic established his dominance halfway through, going 4-2 up before rallying on to seal his win on his second match point, when Cilic made the last of his 25 unforced errors by sending an inside-out forehand sailing wide.
"Today I failed, I'm a little bit disappointed but after I've slept on it, I think I'll feel better," said Cilic, who has won two titles this year.
"I started pretty good but when I came back out, the conditions were a little bit different and I missed my shots.
"I didn't find the right range. I was a little bit struggling with that.
"He was defending really well and so it was tough to get some free points. I think I didn't serve well today. In the crucial moments, he played well."
US Open semi-finalist Djokovic, whose win marked his third in eight finals this year, kissed the ground and threw his shirt into the crowd at the venue where he claimed Olympic bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games.
