Beijing, China (Sports Network) - Novak Djokovic held off Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
to capture his third China Open title on Sunday.
The top-seeded Djokovic defeated Tsonga by a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 margin to improve
to 14-0 lifetime at this event. The Serb also won the title in 2009 and 2010.
"I am planning to come back to the China Open next year. It's been one of my
most successful tournaments," Djokovic said. "This is where I love to play. I
love the conditions and, as I mentioned before, I have lots of support from
the fans who are very loyal and very nice."
Djokovic improved to 4-5 in finals this year, winning the Australian Open to
start the season before following with titles in Miami and Toronto. He also
lost in finals at Monte Carlo, Rome, the French Open, Cincinnati and the U.S.
Open.
Meanwhile, Tsonga was trying to capture his third title of the season. He won
in Doha to start the year and Metz just two weeks ago. The Frenchman fell to
9-6 lifetime in finals.
"I'm happy because I played good tennis here. It was a great tournament for
me," Tsonga said. "I hope I will continue to improve like this and I will try
another time to beat these guys next week."
Djokovic leads Tsonga in their head-to-head series, 7-5, and although Tsonga
won five of their first seven meetings (5-3 on hard courts), Djokovic has
triumphed in their last six matchups.
This was the third meeting between the two players in a title match. Djokovic
won the first, capturing the first of his five Grand Slam titles by beating
Tsonga in the 2008 Australian Open final. Tsonga prevailed later that year in
the Bangkok final.
The Sports Network