Djokovic wins China Open

BEIJING - Agence France-Presse

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the third China Open victory of his career. REUTERS photo

World number two Novak Djokovic overcame Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in straight sets yesterday to win the China Open for a third time.

The 25-year-old Serb defeated the world number seven 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 to maintain his unbeaten record at the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing and take the the winner’s prize of $530,570.

Djokovic has won the China Open every time he has entered, his previous titles coming in 2009 and 2010 before he missed last year because of injury, and his record at the tournament now stands at 14-0.

He is pressing to beat Roger Federer to the year-end number one spot in the world rankings and said he was “delighted” at his latest triumph.

“It’s an amazing feeling to win this trophy in the new stadium,” he said of the capital’s National Tennis Stadium, which had yet to be built the last time he won in Beijing.

Little separated the players throughout the entire opening set. The first four games went to serve before Tsonga made a breakthrough in the fifth game, breaking Djokovic without losing a point.

But the Serb immediately broke back and the next six games went with serve to force a tie break, where Djokovic raced to a 4-1 lead.

Tsonga won two quick points before Djokovic spurned an opportunity while 5-3 ahead, pushing a simple forehand shot well wide.

But two mistakes from the Frenchman, including a backhand half volley into the net, gave the tie break and set to Djokovic.

The first two service games of the second set were held before Djokovic broke in the third and was spurred on to take the next two games, establishing a 4-1 lead, then came from behind to hold serve in the sixth.

Tsonga held in the seventh before Djokovic did the same to take the set and the match in one hour and 41 minutes.

“It was a good match,” Tsonga said. “I missed maybe something in the first set. I was a break up and I was playing well.

“But then he played solid. It was really difficult to control him. I just tried to play my game, to be aggressive. But against a player like this, for the moment my level is not high enough to beat him.” The Serb had won his previous five meetings against Tsonga, including three this year, and was ultimately too strong for the Frenchman, who was making his first China Open final appearance and only his third full match of this year’s tournament.

Tsonga, making his fourth appearance at the China Open, started with a tough three-set win over Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin before receiving a walkover against Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko.

He defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-2 in the third round and won his semi-final match against Feliciano Lopez when the Spaniard, who was trailing 1-6, 1-4 at the time, retired with a wrist injury.

For his part Djokovic opened with a first-round three-set win against German qualifier Michael Berrer and followed it with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Carlos Berlocq of Argentina.

In the third round, the Serb dispatched Austria’s Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-2 before defeating Florian Mayer of Germany in the semi-final 6-1, 6-4.