Novak Djokovic with the winning trophy after beating Marin Cilic at the China Open final.
Novak Djokovic with the winning trophy after beating Marin Cilic at the China Open final.

Tennis

Djokovic beats Cilic to win China Open final

Novak Djokovic won the China Open title with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Croatia's Marin Cilic.

BEIJING // Novak Djokovic won the China Open title with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Croatia's Marin Cilic. The second-seeded Serbian broke Cilic's serve in the sixth game and again in the eighth to take the first set following a 90-minute rain delay. The second set was a far more mixed affair, with each breaking the other's serve three times to force the tiebreak. That too was close but Cilic struggled to keep up, and his return at 6-4 went wide, handing Djokovic the win today.

Djokovic's path to the title was eased by Cilic's upset victory over top-seeded Rafael Nadal in Saturday's semi-final. "Even though it was a straight-sets win it could easily have gone the other way. I think I was a little bit saved by the rain delay," said Djokovic, who has won all four meetings between the two. "I kind of got together my nerves to play well." Cilic said the rain delay may have affected him. "First time I went out on the court I started pretty good but when we came back the conditions were a little bit different. It was a little cooler and Novak started really good and I missed my shot to get back into the game," Cilic said.

Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest

Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.

Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.

Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.

Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.

Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.

Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia