Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova added another title on their respective career highlights after winning at the 2014 China Open Tennis in Beijing on Sunday.
Djokovic won his fifth China Open title and he did it in style as he dominated third-seeded Tomas Berdych en route to a 6-0, 6-2 victory in just almost one hour.
The top-seeded Serb was simply too much for Berdych as he almost scored a complete shutout had his Czech opponent did not save match point near the tail end of the match.
"Everything felt right," said Djokovic, who improved his China Open record to 24-0 over the last five years. "I stepped on the court with this positive mindset. Obviously, I felt it from the start. This has been, under the circumstances, probably the best performance in all finals in my career I played. It was incredible."
Berdych said after the match that he was stunned by Djokovic for the entire showdown, saying that he has never experienced such domination for his entire career.
"I met somebody in the final who I've never seen before. I was just swept out from the court," Berdych said after the match. "I probably played maybe over, what, 600 matches in my career, and I met guys like Andre (Agassi), Roger (Federer), all those probably in their best times, but I have never, ever experienced anything like that."
Djokovic will look to sustain the momentum when he competes at the Shanghai Masters where he is set to defend the title he won in 2012 and 2013.
Meanwhile, on the women's side, Sharapova scored a hard-earned 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win against Petra Kvitova in their final showdown, overcoming 10 double faults and crucial errors in the match.
Sharapova said after the match that winning the China Open will be a huge morale booster for her moving forward, especially when she is looking back from last year's injury that almost made her decide to call it quits.
"It's definitely great to be a year later in a situation where this is my fourth title of the year, you know, a Grand Slam this year. A lot to put in perspective. You look back and think about how you kind of struggled, but you kept going," Sharapova said.
With the win, Sharapova, who won the French Open title earlier this year, will move up to No. 2 in the world rankings, overtaking Simona Halep and Kvitova.
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