Djokovic, Serena sizzle in Beijing
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TOP seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams sailed through to convincing victories at the China Open yesterday.
Djokovic overcame Spain’s Rafael Nadal in straight sets to maintain a remarkable 100 percent record at the Beijing tournament, while Williams claimed a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic as her dominant season continues.
Djokovic, who has won the event the four times he has entered, was at his ruthless best to defeat Nadal 6-3, 6-4, a day before he is set to be unseated at the top of the world rankings by the Spaniard.
It was Nadal’s first hardcourt loss of the season.
The second seed in Beijing showed only rare glimpses of the form that has seen him win 10 titles this year, with his Serbian opponent racing to a 3-0 lead in the first ten minutes.
Top seed Djokovic then powered ahead, showing formidable power-hitting to take the first set 25 minutes later.
The pair displayed incredible movement in the opening game of the second set, engaging in quickfire net-play much to the delight of the crowd.
Nadal came out on top of that duel, winning the point, but Djokovic took the game to break serve.
Djokovic then kept his nerve, holding serve until the end of the match on one hour 27 minutes.
The victory was a consolation for Djokovic, who is spending his 101st week at No. 1. But his current streak of 48 weeks will end today when the ATP announces its new rankings with Nadal at the top.
The Spaniard only needed to make the final to unseat him.
After the match, Djokovic congratulated Nadal on his achievement.
“I have to say congratulations to Rafael because he deserves definitely to be No. 1 this year with the season that he has had,” the Serb said in an interview on court. “He is the best player so far in 2013, there is no question about it.”
Djokovic was in dominant form at the China Open, where he has an unbeaten run stretching back to 2009. He did not take part in 2011.
Nadal’s return to the top for the first time since July 2011 marks an astonishing comeback for the 13-time grand slam champion, who spent the second half of last year on the sidelines injured.
In the women’s draw, Williams won her tenth title of the year with a convincing victory over world No. 11 Jankovic.
The Serb only briefly threatened her opponent, breaking the American’s serve in the third game of the second set.
The 32-year-old has already secured the year-end world No. 1 ranking, and last month became the first woman to surpass US$9 million in prize money in a single season.
Williams last claimed the China Open in 2004, while Jankovic won it in 2008.
In Shanghai, Germany’s Florian Mayer enjoyed a comfortable win against Chinese wildcard Wu Di on the opening day of the Shanghai Rolex Masters yesterday, while Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq also progressed to the second round.
World No. 41 Mayer broke his 22-year-old opponent — ranked more than 200 places below him — twice in the first set at the Qizhong Tennis Center, and another break early in the second set proved decisive as he eased to a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
Berlocq, ranked 45th, rallied to beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Czech Lukas Rosol earlier became the first player to make it to the second round, outlasting Julien Benneteau of France 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
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