BEIJING: Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic won the China Open title on Wednesday to claim the 102nd singles trophy of his career after Australian Alex de Minaur retired due to injury.
Djokovic won the opening set 7-6 (7-3) in a tiebreaker. De Minaur won the first game of the second set before retiring because of a left thigh injury. Both players took medical timeouts after the opening set.
The victory allowed the 39-year-old Djokovic to maintain his record of winning at least one singles title in every year for 21 consecutive years.
Only Jimmy Connors, with 109 titles, and Roger Federer, with 103, have won more singles titles than Djokovic.
The China Open victory was Djokovic's 34th consecutive win at the tournament and his seventh title there.
Djokovic said the year had been difficult because of physical and health issues, but his victory in Beijing showed that he could still compete with the best players in the world.
The victory will also see Djokovic return to the world's top 10.
