Novak Djokovic brushed aside Florian Mayer in the China Open Saturday to set up a final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, as Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka made it to the last two of the women’s event. World number two Sharapova overcame home favourite Li Na in straight sets on Saturday to make the final, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga triumphed in the last four of the men’s draw. The 25-year-old Russian defeated Li, Asia’s only Grand Slam winner, 6-4, 6-0, to reach the final for the first time in five attempts, but it took the French Open champion a while to break into her stride.
Li sped to an early 3-1 lead due to some poor serving by Sharapova, including three consecutive double faults in one game, but the Russian fought back, winning three games in a row before taking the set with a break. The world number two from Serbia furthered his aim of finishing the year top of the ATP rankings with a simple straight-sets victory, maintaining his unbeaten record at the Beijing tournament that stretches back three years. Top-seed Djokovic defeated the 29th-ranked Mayer of Germany 6-1, 6-4 with the help of seven aces. The 25-year-old, second to Roger Federer in the rankings, has won the China Open on the two occasions he has entered — in 2009 and 2010 — and will aim to make it three out of three on Sunday.
“There are no secrets between us,” Djokovic said of Tsonga. Djokovic leads Tsonga 7-5 in head-to-heads, and has won all three of their meetings this year. “We have played a lot of important matches on the big stage. He’s a very powerful player, big serve, big forehand, and if that works, he can win against anybody on any surface,” he added. Tsonga marched into the final when Spain’s Feliciano Lopez retired during the second set of their match.
