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Novak Djokovic thrashes Tomas Berdych 6-0 6-2 in China Open final
Fifth title in Beijing for world number one Djokovic
Maria Sharapova claims WTA title in Chinese capital
Kei Nishikori triumphs in home tournament in Tokyo
Tomas Berdych finished the China Open final in Beijing Sunday with a broad smile on his face.
It is not the reaction one would expect from a top-10 player thrashed 6-0 6-2, but his opponent was world number one Novak Djokovic, and the Serb had been in unstoppable form.
Czech star Berdych was 6-0 5-0 down and facing the humiliation of the “double bagel” before staging a brief rally to break back and at least get two games on the board.
So his demeanor at the handshake was one of pure relief, despite hardly troubling the scoreboard in a one hour six minute match.
Djokovic broke Berdych’s giant serve at will from the start and was never seriously troubled as he hit 19 winners in the one-sided contest.
The loser acknowledged that he had been playing against someone in very special form.
“I just said to my coach now that I probably played over 700 matches in my career, and I met guys like Andre (Agassi) , Roge (Federer), all those probably in their best times. But I have never, ever experienced anything like that,” he told the ATP Tour website.
Form had dictated that Djokovic would emerge the winner, he has entered the ATP 500 event in the Chinese capital on five occasions and each time he has won the title.
A straight sets semifinal win over Britain’s Andy Murray had also shown him at his best, but Berdych had also dispatched Martin Klizan, the quarterfinal conqueror of world number two Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic will now head to Shanghai for a Masters 1000 tournament, which he has won for the past two years.
The WTA event in Beijing was claimed by Russia’s Maria Sharapova, who beat Petra Kvitova in a tight three-set final.
Sharapova will leapfrog Kvitova to go to number two in the rankings with a 6-4 2-6 6-3 win over the Czech.
It was her first title since claiming the French Open and her fourth of the year.
Kvitova saved a match point in a marathon eighth game in the third set, but Sharapova closed it out in the next game, her sixth victory over her opponent in eight career clashes.
In Sunday’s other ATP Tour final, there was a popular home triumph for Kei Nishikori in the Japan Open.
He beat Canada’s big-hitting Milos Raonic, the same player he beat for the 2012 Tokyo title, 7-6 4-6 6-4 at the Ariake Colosseum.
Nishikori, who beat Djovovic in the semifinals of the U.S. Open before losing to Marin Cilic, has risen to number five in the race to qualify for the season-ending ATP Tour Finals in London.