The set lasted one hour and eight minutes. De Minaur could not continue. Djokovic, 39, finishes the week with a 102nd tour-level title and an unbeaten record in Beijing still intact. It is his first ATP 500 crown since Astana in 2022, and his tenth at that level.
He did not get the final he would have wanted. He had beaten Alexander Zverev to reach the last four, then advanced when Daniil Medvedev was defaulted in the semi-final, trailing 7-5, 5-3, after a ball struck a front-row spectator. The final ended the same way as that semi-final did not: with an opponent unable to finish.
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Djokovic led De Minaur 3-1 coming into the match, including their last meeting at Wimbledon last year. The Australian, seeded fifth, had reached the final when Hubert Hurkacz retired with an adductor injury in the other semi-final. He was chasing a first Beijing trophy and a second title of the season after Rotterdam in February.
The opening set was tight enough to suggest a final. Djokovic edged the tie-break 7-3 and was a set away from the trophy when the match stopped. A withdrawal does not change the entry in the record book. Seven Beijing titles, 102 in all, and still no defeat in the city.