In Beijing, the finals of the China Open, an ATP 500 tourney, featured Serb Novak Djokovic, the second seed, against Croat Marin Cilic, a wildcard seeded eight.  Djokovic prevailed 6-2, 7-6 for his third title of the year in his ninth attempt. Moreover, with Andy Murray missing in action this week, Djokovic regained the number three spot.

Yesterday in the semifinals, Cilic took apart top seed Rafael Nadal.  Meeting Djokovic for the fourth time, the talented Croat looked prepared to grasp his first win vis-à-vis the Serb.  With a forehand crosscourt winner, Cilic had his first break point chance. However, with a forehand winner down the line, Djokovic managed to erase it.  Cilic got two more chances, yet, was denied every time by Djokovic.  After Cilic held comfortably, Djokovic reciprocated with an easy game.  But serving at 2 all, great offense by Cilic after a second serve offering by Djokovic set up double break point.  Novak was saved by Marin’s forehand brushing the top of the net to go out and botching another forehand after reaching a mediocre dropshot.  Now at deuce, rain caused a lengthy pause in the action.  When play resumed, Djokovic gave Cilic another break opportunity with a backhand error.  However, a return backhand error and lucky lob allowed Djokovic to preserve the game.  Unable to capitalize on multiple break chances, Cilic made three consecutive errors to donate triple break point.  Although Cilic wiped those out, Novak brought Marin in with a dropshot in a long rally then lobbed a winner for break point.  When Cilic erred with a forehand up the line, Djokovic had a 4-2 lead.  After readily consolidating, Djokovic produced a forehand up the line winner for break point and secured the set when another of Cilic’s forehand went long by clipping the net.

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Commencing with the U.S. Open, a perpetual dark cloud has loomed over the WTA’s  top seeds; most have failed to reach the latter rounds of tournaments or win in finals.  Today at the China Open, a premier event, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, world number 6, let the sun through by defeating Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-4 in the finals. For Svetlana, it is her second China Open title and her third trophy this year.

With a backhand crosscourt winner, Kuznetsova fabricated double break point in the opening game.  Although Radwanska got to deuce, a netted forehand volley and backhand stroke ultimately handed the break to her rival.  Subsequently, Svetlana had a comfortable game to consolidate.  After Agnieszka scored with an ace for 1-2, on her next service trip, with a double fault and forehand down the line winner by Svetlana, the Pole faced double break point again.  This time, Kuznetsova sealed the deal with another crosscourt forehand winner for 4-1.  After Kuznetsova put her guard down the next game, Radwanska broke. But, the Russian aggressive play was rewarded shortly. With the Pole’s weak second serve too inviting to her adversary, Kuznetsova captured another break when Radwanska’s forehand sailed long.  Then, by converting a forehand up the line winner on her serve, Kuznetsova bedded the first set 6-2.

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For the second consecutive week, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova got to the finals of a tournament only to see someone else walk away with the trophy. At the China Open, a tier II event, Serbian Jelena Jankovic clobbered Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2 avenging her lost the previous week to the Russian.

Both women have atrocious records in finals with Jankovic winning one of her last six, while Kuznetsova only one of her last ten. Luckily they were facing each other, which meant that someone would improve on that dismal statistic. Despite making more unforced errors than her opponent starting out the first set, Kuznetsova held serve. The Russian even salvaged triple break point by pressuring the Serbian to come up with volleys which the latter missed. Then, with a couple of big serves, Kuznetsova secured the game for 3-2. Subsequently, Svetlana produced a beautiful backhand down the line winner for break point of her own which was then erased by a good serve from Jelena. When Jankovic double faulted, Kuznetsova landed another break point opportunity but was betrayed by another forehand error. Jankovic pulled off the game to level things at 3-3. Immediately, after a few careless forehands, Kuznetsova found herself down triple break point, Jankovic attacked the second serve for a winner 4-3. After holding serve, Jankovic for the third consecutive game arrived at triple break point which she converted to take the first set 6-3.

To open the second set, Jankovic held at love 1-0. After being down 15-40, Kuznetsova tossed in some good serves and minimized her unforced errors to keep within striking distance 1-1. But after Jankovic had no problem holding serve, Kuznetsova reverted to her old pattern and with a myriad of unforced errors was down 15-40. Jankovic not wanting to offend her opponent converted the break point for a 3-1 advantage. In the fifth game, with a forehand down the line winner and a double fault from Jelena, Svetlana had three chances to get back on serve. Unable to shake the unforced errors, Kuznetsova let Jankovic off the hook. Thereafter, Jankovic pressured her opponent’s service game and was rewarded with another break 5-1. Yet, as Jankovic served for the match, Kuznetsova showed signs of resuscitation, coming up with a nice backhand volley winner and some deep returns of serve to break and extend the match 2-5. But trouble was looming on Svetlana’s own serve. Kuznetsova made three consecutive unforced errors to hand her rival triple match point; Jelena sealed the deal with her most potent shot, the backhand down the line for a winner.

The China Open is Jelena’s second title this season; her last was in May on clay in Rome. With it, the Serbian earns valuable ranking points, positioning herself to take back the number one spot next week should top ranked Serena Williams falter.