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| Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action against Vasek Pospisil of Canada during their men's singles second round match at the China Open tennis tournament in the National Tennis Centre of Beijing on Wednesday. Novak Djokovic won 6-3, 7-5. |
Beijing: Men's top seed Novak Djokovic maintained his perfect China Open record but Caroline Wozniacki's hopes of qualifying for the year-ending WTA Finals in Singapore took a hit after she crashed out on Wednesday.
World number one Djokovic needed 85 minutes to overcome Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-3, 7-5 in the second round and extend his China Open record to 21-0.
Djokovic, eyeing a fifth title at Beijing, broke the big-serving Pospisil four times and lost only six points on his first serve in his dominant display.
Rain washed out play on the outer courts, where seeded players including Tomas Berdych and Grigor Dimitrov are scheduled to play.
Bulgarian Dimitrov will meet Djokovic if he goes past Spaniard Pablo Andujar in the second round.
In the women section, Australian Samantha Stosur showed flashes of her old brilliance to beat Wozniacki 6-4, 7-6(9) in their second round encounter.
Wozniacki needed to win the Beijing title to qualify for Singapore but was troubled against a sharp-serving Stosur, who broke her in the seventh game to claim the first set and saved five set points in the tiebreak before closing it out.
Wozniacki can still qualify for Singapore this week, if Angelique Kerber does not reach the quarter-finals and Ekaterina Makarova falls before the final.
Third seed Petra Kvitova, the fourth and the latest to qualify for the eight-player season finale, beat local favourite Peng Shuai 6-4, 6-2 in another second round match.
Peng, who made the semifinals at the US Open last month, took a 2-0 lead before the Wimbledon champion stormed back, winning 12 of the next 16 games and wrapping up the match in just 66 minutes.
Peng throughout the match had difficulty dealing with her left - handed opponent's powerful serves.
"Some of the players, they didn't really get used to left - handers' serves," Kvitova said.
"So I think that's my advantage," she said, adding that "the serve helped me a lot".
The Czech player will now meet 16th seed Venus Williams for a tricky third round match.
The third seed in Beijing has enjoyed a return to consistency in China after a poor run in the North American swing.
She won her second tournament of the year at New Haven, but crashed out of the US Open in the third round to 145th-ranked Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic.
Kvitova then lost to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, her quarterfinal opponent in Wuhan, in her opening match in Cincinnati.
With her victory in Wuhan, the 24-year-old confirmed her place at the WTA Finals in Singapore, the end-of-season finale involving the world's top eight women players.
Those who have already made it to the tournament include world number one Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova (4) and Simona Halep (2).
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