Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Chuang Chia-jung bowed out of the China Open in Beijing yesterday, while world No. 2 Novak Djokovic enjoyed a convincing straight-sets win against unseeded journeyman Carlos Berlocq of Argentina to progress to the quarter-finals.
In the second round of the women’s doubles, Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic defeated Hsieh — who was knocked out of the singles competition on Tuesday by former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki — and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 7-5, 6-4.
Chuang and Zhang Shuai of China were beaten by Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik and Zheng Jie of China 7-5, 6-4.
Photo: AFP
In the men’s singles, 25-year-old Serbian Djokovic maintained his unbeaten record at the Beijing tournament by dismantling the player ranked 50th in the ATP standings 6-1, 6-3.
Djokovic won the first set in only 25 minutes and raced to a 5-0 lead in the second, only to lose three games carelessly, before wrapping up the match.
The former world No. 1 has won the event on the two occasions he has entered, in 2009 and 2010, but he missed last year because of injury.
Photo: Reuters
The No. 1 seed is scheduled to face Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the next round. Melzer knocked out sixth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov in three sets.
In the women’s draw, defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska took more than two hours to put away Spanish qualifier Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Radwanska, coming off losing her Japan Open title in the final on Sunday, struggled past the Spaniard in their first matchup. Radwanska broke six times and lost her own serve seven times.
Photo: EPA
World No. 2 Maria Sharapova made light work of her second-round match, progressing to the last 16 with ease.
The Russian No. 2 seed defeated Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, ranked 29th in the WTA standings, in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
“I thought I served really well today, much better than the first round,” the winner of four Grand Slam singles titles said. “She [Cirstea] is someone that likes to be aggressive, get the first shot and hit it really hard. I was happy I took her time away. It was important to try to take that away from her.”
The 25-year-old faces Slovenia’s Polona Hercog, 90th in the rankings, in the third round.
There was a shock in the last 16 when the 69th-ranked Romina Oprandi of Switzerland beat former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in straight sets to progress to the quarter-finals.
Oprandi, who received a late entry after Serena Williams withdrew just two days before the start of the tournament, defeated the Serbian 11th seed 6-4, 6-3.
“I really struggled to find my rhythm out there today, especially on the forehand,” world No. 12 Ivanovic said. “The ball was coming without much pace, and I wasn’t really efficient moving forward and taking advantage of that. It was the unforced errors that made a big difference.”
Ivanovic’s compatriot Jelena Jankovic was also knocked out, losing to Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 6-4.
Navarro next face France’s Marion Bartoli in the quarter-finals after the ninth seed overcame Julia Goerges of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (7/2).
On Tuesday evening in the men’s singles, Spain’s David Ferrer retired due to illness in the first set of his match against Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun.
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