Djokovic plays the waiting game to win Beijing title

BEIJING - Novak Djokovic held his nerve during a lengthy rain interruption, coming back with full concentration to defeat wild card Marin Cilic 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) and claim the title Sunday at the China Open.

Djokovic, returning to third position in the world Monday, won his third trophy of the season while preventing Croatia’s Cilic from doing the same in their stop-start contest.

The Serb added the Beijing honour to his Olympic bronze medal from 2008 - achieved in the same arena in the capital.

“It’s been a remarkable experience,” said the winner. “The rain break was tough, I didn’t know how long it would go on. It did take awhile (almost two hours). I rested and tried to concentrate. When we came back I played very well.”

The pair were locked at two games, 40-all when the weather intervened.

Drizzle which left lines too slick to play on turned to rain, with the players forced off court by umpire Gerry Armstrong.

Djokovic secured the opening set as he came back to twice break the Cilic serve to close it out in 46 minutes on court. In the second, the Serb second seed ran away in the tiebreaker from his

Croatian rival, with Cilic saving a match point before going down.

“I started the match well, but when we came back, he had the better start,” said Cilic, who ended with 25 unforced errors while dropping serve four times.

“It then got colder and night came, conditions completely changed. I had to adjust and was struggling.

“I had some chances late in the second set and I’m sorry it didn’t go to a third. Novak played well but I had a good week also.”

Djokovic and Cilic both travel to Shanghai for the new Masters 1000 event in the commercial capital this week.

Djokovic will take over in the rankings from Andy Murray, returning to third as the Scot misses the current Asian events due to a wrist injury.

The Serb was playing his 25th career final (14-11) and leads the ATP with nine singles finals (3-6) and 63 match wins this season.

He stands on three trophies in 2009 along with Tokyo winner Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nikolay Davydenko and Juan Del Potro.