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SPORTS A21
Monday 12 October 2015
Djokovic beats Nadal for 6th China Open title
BEIJING (AP) — Novak has played some of her han, retiring in the sec-
Djokovic defeated Rafael best tennis in the past two ond set with a left ankle
Nadal 6-2, 6-2 Sunday to weeks. She also reached injury while trailing Venus
win his sixth China Open the final last week in Wu- Williams.q
title and improve his re-
cord at the tournament to
a sterling 29-0.
Djokovic had seven aces
to none for his Spanish ri-
val, and saved both break
points he faced in the
match, which was the 45th
between the two players.
“The scoreline, especially
in the first set, doesn’t in-
dicate the real battle that
we had on the court,”
Djokovic said.
“I think I maintained that Novak Djokovic of Serbia waves to the crowd while holding
level of aggressivity and the winner’s trophy after beating Rafael Nadal of Spain in their
strength and power in men’s singles final match in the China Open tennis tournament
my shots, and eventually at the National Tennis Stadium in Beijing, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015.
I knew that he’s going to
make mistakes and he’s Associated Press
going to give me shorter
balls so I can dominate the ing against a player who is title at the China Open on
rallies, which happened.” playing unbelievable and Sunday, rallying in both sets
Nadal still leads 23-22 but with huge confidence.” to defeat Timea Bacsinszky
hasn’t beaten Djokovic The top-ranked Djokovic 7-5, 6-4.
since the French Open fi- has been so dominant in
nal last year and hasn’t Beijing, he’s only lost three Muguruza trailed 5-2 in the
prevailed on hard courts sets in six years. This year, opening set before win-
since the 2013 U.S. Open he also only lost 14 games ning five straight games to
final. coming into the final, the clinch it, then went down
The Spaniard hurt his foot fewest in his career at an early break in the sec-
early in the second set an ATP Tour event with a ond set before coming
and called for the trainer minimum of four matches back yet again.
during a changeover. He played, according to the The Spaniard will rise to a
said he would see how he ATP. career-high ranking of No.
feels Monday and hopes 4 on Monday, while Bacsin-
he’ll be able to play next “This positive week defi- szky will break into the top
week’s Shanghai Masters. nitely encourages me and 10 for the first time.
Nadal said he’s pleased gives me a lot of confi- “Definitely it’s a big
with his performance this dence for Shanghai,” he achievement. I think, you
week, especially consider- said. know, to see you are im-
ing how much he’s strug- Djokovic will be the top- proving, also on the tennis
gled to maintain his consis- seeded player for the side, but in the rankings, it’s
tency this season — his first Shanghai Masters starting that moment when there’s
in 11 years without a Grand on Monday, which also only three more in front
Slam title. He’s also just 2-8 features Roger Federer, of me,” she said, smiling.
against top-10 opponents Andy Murray, Stan Wawrin- “Three more. Three more.”
this year. ka and Nadal. Muguruza struggled after
In the women’s final, Wim- her breakthrough perfor-
“That’s the thing that I am bledon runner-up Garbine mance at Wimbledon, los-
working hard to try to re- Muguruza captured her ing in the second round
cover the level that I want second career WTA Tour of the U.S. Open, but she
to recover,” he said. “And
for moments in that first set,
I was very close to that lev-
el, thinking that I am play-
