Djokovic and Kuznetsova win China Open titles

Novak Djokovic captured his third ATP title of the year at the China Open yesterday, outlasting giant-killer Marin Cilic, of Croatia, while Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova breezed to the women's title.

The Serbian second seed capitalised on a 90-minute rain delay at 2-2 in the first set, returning to centre court at the Beijing Olympic tennis venue with renewed focus to win the blistering baseline battle with Cilic, 6-2 7-6.

The big-hitting Cilic, who beat fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko and top seed Rafael Nadal en route to the final, pummeled Djokovic with a barrage of huge backcourt shots but the Serb successfully mixed up the pace to throw him off.

After holding serve to go up 3-2 in the first, Djokovic broke Cilic straight away and then a second time to take the set, with the 21-year-old Croatian the victim of two unlucky net cords in the final game.

In the second, Cilic - a wild card entry - and the 22-year-old Serb traded breaks three times to force a tiebreak, with the Croatian failing to serve out the set twice.

Both players agreed that the light rain shower had influenced the outcome of the match, which lasted nearly two hours.

"I certainly played much better after the rain delay," said Djokovic, who went home with the 500,000-dollar winner's cheque.

Cilic said he had trouble adjusting to the cooler temperatures after the break.

By reaching the final, Djokovic was assured of taking over the world number three ranking on October 19, surpassing injured Scot Andy Murray. He has already qualified for the season-ending championship in London in November.

In the women's final, Kuznetsova, the reigning French Open champion, used her powerful ground strokes and extra experience to run Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska around the court, winning 6-2 6-4.

Kuznetsova, who defeated Radwanska earlier this year en route to the title at Roland Garros, dominated the first set, breaking the 20-year-old Pole three times and running her around the court with her penetrating ground strokes.

In the second, the 24-year-old Russian also went up an early break and never looked back, keeping the 12th seed Radwanska on the run by hitting difficult angles from the baseline.

The win at the 6.6-million-dollar combined ATP/WTA event ensures that Kuznetsova, currently world no.6, will move into the top five when the new WTA rankings come out today.