Rain forces Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer to sleep on it

Heavy rain forced the men's and women's finals at the China Open to be postponed until this morning.

The men's final between top seed Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer in Beijing started four-and-a-half hours late yesterday, but lasted just 18 minutes before the heavens opened up again. Djokovic had raced out to a 3-1 lead before the players were forced off.

Caroline Wozniacki, meanwhile, will play Vera Zvonareva in today's women's final while celebrating becoming the world No 1. The Dane will move to the top of the rankings when they are published today, although she faces a tough task against Zvonareva, who beat her in the semi-finals of the US Open last month.

Serena Williams has pulled out of this week's General Ladies' Linz tournament after renewed problems with her right foot. Williams felt pain while training in Florida on Saturday and a subsequent scan has shown that her injury hasn't healed properly.

Williams has been sidelined since July after cutting her foot on broken glass at a restaurant after winning Wimbledon. She underwent surgery and returned to practice in September but twice put off her comeback. The Australian Open and Wimbledon champion has played only six tournaments this year and will lose her No 1 ranking to Wozniacki.

In Tokyo, meanwhile, world No 1 Rafa Nadal overpowered Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-1, 7-5 to win the Japan Open, capping a week of "Nadal Fever" in the city. It was the Spaniard's seventh title of the year and improved his tour-best record to 66-8 after a flawless match in which Monfils failed to force a single break point.

"I want to finish the season well and winning titles is a perfect way to finish," Nadal told reporters. "It's difficult to keep winning. I have to enjoy these moments because you never know when they will end.

"I'm going to try to keep it going in Shanghai and the rest of the season and in London (ATP Tour Finals] - the most difficult tournament for me. Gael is a great player. He beat me in 2009 and we had a tough match at the US Open the same year. But I played really well."

Nadal bounced on to the court like a prizefighter and quickly had fifth seed Monfils on the ropes with some brutal hitting from the baseline. He wrapped up the first set with a ferocious forehand down the line but Monfils, who survived a fright when he took an early tumble and turned his ankle, raised his game in the second.The Frenchman's extra energy gave the match its highlight point in the tenth game when he scrambled to return two overheads from Nadal.

Monfils charged the net after clawing back the second and dived in front of Nadal, whose third smash narrowly missed giving Monfils a sore backside, after which the two men touched hands.

Luck deserted Monfils in the next game, a net cord giving Nadal break point and the Spaniard nosed ahead 6-5 when a sliced backhand return floated past Monfils and landed flush on the line. Nadal delivered the knockout punch in the next game, a big serve to the body ending the match and giving this year's triple Grand Slam champion a 43rd career title.

He celebrated by striking a gunslinger's pose as 10,000 fans cheered. Nadal, a nine-times Grand Slam winner, pocketed $260,000 for winning on his debut in Japan. The end of the match triggered a stampede for Nadal's autographs and it took him 20 minutes to sign everything from baseball caps to teddy bears.