Monday 6 October 2014 10:41, UK
World No 1 Novak Djokovic was in a league of his own as he took Tomas Berdych apart, winning 6-0 6-2, to claim the China Open title on Sunday.
The top seed sealed victory in just 66 minutes, firing 19 winners and taking six of the eight break points offered to him.
He produced a perfect opening set of tennis to bagel the Czech after 29 minutes of brilliance and was on course for a rare 'double bagel', leading 6-0 5-0, before a relieved Berdych staged a brief fightback.
Djokovic was seeing the ball early and returning with tremendous length as his opponent struggled to stay with him.
The Serb won 11 games in a row when Berdych took his second break point opportunity of the 12th to raucous applause inside a sold-out National Tennis Center in Beijing.
Czech hopeful Berdych, who reached the final of the tournament he won back in 2011, held serve to love in the next, but the relentless seven-time grand slam champion was not to be denied his fifth title of the year and 46th of his career after serving out the match.
Victory helped Djokovic improve his unblemished record at the tournament to 24-0.
"This has been, under the circumstances, probably the best performance in all finals in my career I played. It was incredible. Incredible," Djokovic said after his stunning victory over the third seed.
This has been, under the circumstances, probably the best performance in all finals in my career I played. It was incredible. Incredible.
"It was six Love, five Love, under an hour. Everything I tried worked. To be proud of the performance is the least I can say of what I played tonight. Beijing is definitely my lucky place, I enjoy coming here."
Berdych, who was still stunned, shaking his head for much of the post-match press conference, admitted he was no match for his opponent.
"I met somebody in the final who I've never seen before. Really the way that he performed today was really outstanding," he said.
"There is really not much I can add to that because, really, I was just swept out from the court. Yeah, that was it.
"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."
Watch LIVE action of the ATP Shanghai Masters on Sky Sports 3 HD from Monday morning at 6am.
