BEIJING—It was a warm and a sunny Sunday Oct 5, 2014 in Beijing, as the tennis fans entered the ground of the National Tennis Center and the Diamond Court, for a day of men’s and women’s finals at the China Open.
It has been a very well visited tournament with kids chasing the players for autographs; so much so that players like Novak Djokovic needed a bodyguard wherever they went. Tennis is still behind badminton, table tennis and basketball, but tennis is growing to be one of biggest sports in China. Even with the retirement of Li Na, she will continue to grow the sport of tennis and be an ambassador for China’s tennis. It’s been a long week here in Beijing. We’ve seen players come and go and only the toughest stayed all the way until the end. But it wasn’t the best day for the Czech players, as both Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych lost their way in the final.
Sharapova wanted it and you could see it and hear it. The Russian, with her strong personality and tough game, seemed to intimidate the Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. Sharapova was hitting pure, direct shots, refused to miss and in less than 50 minutes into the first set, used her first set point to take the set 6:4. Kvitova wasn’t able to use her biggest weapon, the leftie forehand as much as she would have wanted, as she kept on making unforced errors. She tried mixing up her shots, playing with more topspin and mixing up a slice shot here and there, but it wasn’t enough to take down the 6 foot 2 inch tall Russian.
In the second set it was slightly a different story as the Czech broke her opponent’s serve twice and went into a 4-1 lead. Kvitova knew that in order to have a chance of beating Sharapova in this final, she would have to produce her best tennis. Sharapova was once again as we’ve seen many times this week, struggling with her second serve. She served 10 double faults in this match.
“I want you to step in, go through that ball, and get back to your plan,” said Sven Groeneveld, Sharapova’s coach, who spoke to her in the second set while 1-4 down. She certainly listened to her coach, a former mentor of Monica Seles and Mary Pierce as she did exactly that, by stepping up her game, moving inside the court and taking the balls early on the rise. Kvitova wouldn’t relax even for a second though and served her way into the third set with a 6-2 second set win. A very strong response in the second set by Peta Kvitova. But could she match Sharapova’s competitiveness and mentality?
The Russian broke the Czech’s serve early in the third to take a 3-0 lead. Kvitova tried to make a comeback at 3-5 but the tall Russian served her way to the fifth title this year and her first China Open, in 2 hours and 38 minutes. With this win, she takes home almost one Million Dollars in prize money and 1000 points to take her back to No. 2 in the world. Both players will head to Singapore for the WTA Finals in just a few weeks time.
Djokovic Takes Down Berdych for his Fifth Title in Beijing
Whatever Tomas Berdych tried in this final, Novak Djokovic had an answer for it. He just simply didn’t miss.
“There is definitely something special about this place that makes me feel like home. I love this tournament, I love the conditions, and the crowd has been amazing. It is one of the most special tournaments in my life, in my career” said Djokovic at the pre-match press conference..
Title after title wins for Djokovic, his fifth in a row in Beijing. Confidence breeds success and he is very comfortable here. Berdych had to have a plan but when you’re facing someone like Novak Djokovic and you’ve lost 13 matches in a row against him on hard courts, you have got to do something different, but Berdych and his coach didn’t know what that was.
The match started with break after break by Djokovic taking the first set in less then half an hour on the clock with Djokovic earning himself a triple set point and rushing to a 6-0 win. The 27-year old played outstandingly well and left no room for Berdych to even have a glimpse of hope to come back into this match. The Serb returned extremely well, took control of the whole court and gave Berdych no room to breathe.
The Czech struggled today and whatever he tried, Djokovic had a better answer. He managed to get his first game after being 5-0 down in the second set. But it wasn’t enough as Djokovic played very smoothly until the end and in a very comfortable way took Berdych with a score of 6-0, 6-2 in only one hour and six minutes.
At the winning ceremony Djokovic said, “ It was incredible, like something from above came to me and I made the reality in just over an hour, Beijing is definitely my lucky place. Since I first played China Open in 2009, it keeps on going and I think one of the biggest reasons I play so well here, is the support and generosity of the people.”
Both players will be on their way to the Masters in Shanghai but the questions is, who will be the player to stop Novak Djokovic’s run in China?
The Dutch/Romanian Duo Take the Men’s Doubles Title
The 6-time ATP title winners this year Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau won against the fourth seeds Julien Benneteau and Vasek Pospisil in the men’s doubles final at the China Open in Beijing. Rojer and Tecau won 6-7(6), 7-5, 10-5. It is their second title in a row, having triumphed at the Shenzhen Open, last week.
They managed to keep fighting in a tough match and are now on their way to the Shanghai Masters next week. After their win today, they said that they are hoping to continue to make it a great two weeks in China and hope to win more titles on their way to the Barclays ATP World Finals at the London O2 Arena in November.
Vlatka Jovanović is an ex-professional WTA ranked tennis player and an independent broadcaster journalist.
