11. 10. 2009. ·
World no.4 Novak Djokovic clinched his 14th ATP World Tour title and third of the season with a 6-2, 7-6(4) win over Croat Marin Cilic in 1 hour and 54 minutes on Sunday at the China Open.
Until the rain delay at 2-2 in the first set, Cilic had a slight initiative, but failed to capitalise on his opportunities for break. When players got back on court Djokovic was dominating in the set. He won it 6-2, breaking Cilic’s service twice.
Second set brought much more excitement. Cilic made a break in the opening game, and then held to go 2-0 up. Nole broke back in the sixth game to level the score. After 4-4 we saw four breaks in a row. Cilic was serving for the set twice, but the Serb fought back and secured a tiebreaker. Second-seeded Djokovic made 3 mini breaks, two more than his opponent, and took it 7-4.
The winner of the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Beijing gets 500 ATP points and $500,000.
”Even though it was a straight sets win, it could easily have gone the other way,” said Djokovic. “I think I was a little bit saved by the rain delay. I got my nerves together and managed to play well.”
The 22-year-old Djokovic is playing at the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 presented by Rolex next week. As no.2 seed he will begin his quest for his fifth Masters title in the second round against either Latvian wild card Ernests Gulbis or Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini.
Nole leads the ATP World Tour with 63 match wins this season. He will improve his ranking to no.3 on October 19.
