The 39-year-old had taken the first set 7-6 (3). De Minaur stopped at 1-0 down in the second with a groin injury. Djokovic is now 34-0 in Beijing and has 102 tour-level titles.
“I’m very proud of the achievement here,” he said. “It came at the best possible time as a confidence booster and as proof that I can still play at the highest level. Winning against three Top-10 players back to back in three days is a great achievement. I’m obviously filled with joy.”
The three were Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and De Minaur. Medvedev was defaulted in the semi-final after a ball struck a spectator. It was Djokovic’s first visit to Beijing since 2015.
The season had not been straightforward. He reached the Australian Open final, played only three more events before a Wimbledon semi-final, then lost his opening matches in Cincinnati and at the US Open. “Beijing was always my happy place. It continues to be. I hadn’t been here for 11 years. I had a year filled with struggle and challenges, not many great results after the finals of the Australian Open.”
He said the American swing had been poor physically. “In some of the matches here, I did struggle. But I managed to push through and really dig deep, and turned some matches around.”
He also thanked the crowd. “I did not expect the stadium to be full for every single match from the first round and people to be so joyful and passionate about it. That also explains why I play well in China and why I feel good.”
A retirement is not the finish he would have chosen. The record is still a seventh Beijing crown, and a week he is using as evidence that the level is still there.