Novak Djokovic captured his third ATP title of the year at the China Open yesterday, outlasting giant-killer Marin Cilic of Croatia, while Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova breezed to the women’s title.
The Serbian second seed capitalized on a 90-minute rain delay at 2-2 in the first set, returning to center court at the Beijing Olympic tennis venue with renewed focus to win the blistering baseline battle with Cilic, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).
The big-hitting Cilic — who beat fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko and top seed Rafael Nadal en route to the final — pummeled Djokovic with a barrage of huge backcourt shots but the Serb successfully mixed up the pace to throw him off.
After holding serve to go up 3-2 in the first, Djokovic broke Cilic straight away and then a second time to take the set, with the 21-year-old Croatian the victim of two unlucky net cords in the final game.
In the second, Cilic — a wild card entry — and the 22-year-old Serb traded breaks three times to force a tiebreak, with the Croatian failing to serve out the set twice.
Djokovic took control mid-tiebreak, winning a rally after Cilic slipped and fell to go up 4-2. The Serb closed it out on his second match point when the Croatian sent an inside-out forehand sailing wide.
Djokovic, by reaching the final, was assured of taking over the world No. 3 ranking next Monday, surpassing injured Scot Andy Murray.
Kuznetsova, the reigning French Open champion and sixth seed in Beijing, used her powerful ground strokes and extra experience to run Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska around the court, winning 6-2, 6-4.
Also yesterday, American twins Bob and Mike Bryan won the men’s doubles final, defeating Andy Roddick and Mark Knowles in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Shu-wei and China’s Peng Shuai won the women’s doubles on Saturday.
It was the third WTA doubles crown the duo has won this year and the most prestigious yet of Hsieh’s professional career.
Hsieh said she had Peng to thank for the victory, because throughout the tournament, she felt that she herself had been playing “so bad that it was impossible to get any worse.”
She said she did miserably in the singles qualifiers, but that with Peng’s encouragement and help in the doubles tournament, and the instruction of Peng’s coach Ma Weikai, the duo managed to bag the championship.
In addition to the 1,000 points the win adds to Hsieh’s WTA rank, she and Peng also share the US$260,000 prize. Hsieh, who has played intermittently this year, has made a total of US$250,000 in the year up to the China Open.
“My dad said he wants to build a tennis center, but that goal’s too high,” Hsieh said. “I just want to build a little house in the countryside where the whole family can live together.”
Hsieh and Peng have entered 11 tournaments this year, winning in Sydney, Rome and now in Beijing.
They also made it to the semi-finals at the French Open and are ranked the the fifth-best women’s doubles team this year.
■JAPAN OPEN
REUTERS, TOKYO
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga outgunned Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-3 to win the Japan Open with a dazzling mix of guile and brute force yesterday.
The world No. 7 and tournament second seed took 69 minutes to blow Youzhny off the court and capture his third title of the year and fifth of his career.
A first title since winning in Marseille in February moved Tsonga closer to securing a place in the season-ending World Tour Finals in London, exclusive to the world’s top eight.
Victory at the Tokyo hardcourt event was worth US$300,000 to Tsonga, who now has a 5-1 record in ATP Tour finals.
Youzhny offered no excuses after losing his 10th career final.
“I can’t say I played badly but he was too good,” the Russian said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but