BEIJING(AP) Novak Djokovic won the China Open with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Croatia's Marin Cilic, and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia defeated Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-2, 6-4 in the women's final on Sunday.
The second-seeded Serbian broke Cilic's serve in the sixth game and again in the eighth to take the first set following a 90-minute rain delay.
The second set was much tighter, with each breaking the other's serve three times to force the tiebreak. That too was close but Cilic struggled to keep up, and his return at 6-4 went wide, handing Djokovic the win.
The third-ranked Djokovic's path to the title was eased by Cilic's upset of top-seeded Rafael Nadal in Saturday's semifinal.
Even though it was a straight-sets win it could easily have gone the other way. I think I was a little bit saved by the rain delay,'' said Djokovic, who has won all four meetings between the two.I kind of got together my nerves to play well.''
The sixth-seeded Kuznetsova needed just 1 hour, 20 minutes to complete the straight-sets victory, racking up six aces along the way. The 20-year-old Radwanska, who won the Wimbledon and Roland Garros titles as a junior, was playing in her first singles final since June 2008.
Cilic said the rain delay may have affected him.
First time I went out on the court I started pretty good but when we came back the conditions were a little bit different,'' he said.It was a little cooler and Novak started really good and I missed my shot to get back into the game.''