Wozniacki wins China Open tennis title

BEIJING: Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki celebrated her new world number one ranking on Monday by capturing her sixth title of the year at the China Open, outlasting her Russian rival Vera Zvonareva, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

The victory in Beijing by the 20-year-old Wozniacki came as sweet revenge for her loss to Zvonareva in the US Open semifinals.The Dane looked tentative at the start of the match, which was postponed from Sunday due to heavy rain. She looked especially vulnerable on the forehand side, giving Zvonareva several free points on mis-hits and falling behind 3-1.

But she stormed back to take the set. In the second set, the momentum shifted and Zvonareva found her range, securing the key break to go up 3-1 and closing it out to force the decider.

In the third, Wozniacki showed why she is the best player in the world, stepping up her game and painting the lines with blistering backhands despite the Russian’s tough counter-punching to build an early 3-0 lead. The Dane sealed the win with a forehand volley.

Earlier in the men’s final, World number two and defending champion Novak Djokovic captured his second ATP title of the year with an easy 6-2, 6-4 win over Spain’s David Ferrer.

The top-seeded Serb, who took home a 500,000-dollar winner’s cheque. Djokovic led Ferrer 3-1 in the first set on Sunday when play was suspended due to heavy rain. The Serb picked up where he left off to quickly wrap up the first set.

The 28-year-old Spaniard mounted a spirited challenge in the second, breaking Djokovic to go up 3-2 and then consolidating the break. But the Serb then roared back, repeatedly pressuring Ferrer on his serve with long baseline rallies until he cracked, bringing the score to 4-4.

Djokovic indeed went into cruise control, holding his serve at. He closed out the win when Ferrer dumped a backhand into the net on the second match point.