BEIJING: Novak Djokovic churned towards Rafael Nadal’s all-time record for unbeaten starts to a tournament as he demolished Chinese number one Zhang Ze in less than an hour in Beijing on Thursday.

The world number one showed no mercy to Zhang, ranked 219, in front of his home fans as he ended local hopes 6-2, 6-1 in 55 minutes to reach his sixth China Open quarter-final.

Djokovic, unbeaten in five appearances, now equals Jimmy Connors with 26 wins at a tournament before suffering a single defeat, in sight of Nadal’s record of 31 at the French Open.

On the women’s side, the two US Open finalists from Italy — Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci — both lost in the third round.

Pennetta, the US Open champion, lost to Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Vinci was beaten by American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

Following her triumph in New York, Pennetta announced that she would retire at the end of the season — a decision she reaffirmed on Thursday.

She has one more tournament scheduled next week in Tianjin, China, and could still qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore, though her loss to Pavlyuchenkova dented her chances.

“There is nothing going to change if I go to Singapore or not. My career is going to be over anyway,” she said. “Of course, is going to be nice to go to Singapore. If I make it, it’s OK. If I don’t, I go on vacation.”

Ana Ivanovic outlasted Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 to set up a quarter-final with Pavlyuchenkova despite needing repeated treatment for a back problem.

Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza of Spain clinched her spot at the WTA finals with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

In other men’s matches, Fabio Fognini, Pennetta’s fiance, rallied to beat seventh-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay edged Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (9-7) despite the Croat bludgeoning his way into the record books for career aces.

Karlovic hammered 26 aces in his defeat, reaching a total of 10,247 and surpassing compatriot Goran Ivanisevic’s 10,237 along the way.

SPECTRE OF CILIC LOOMS FOR NISHIKORI

TOKYO: Marin Cilic produced a masterclass on Thursday as he overpowered American Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-3 to set up a Japan Open quarter-final against defending champion Kei Nishikori.

The sixth-seeded, who is seeking his first title of the year and the 14th of his career, Croat saved all five break points and hit a powerful forehand to wrap up the match in 73 minutes.

In other matches, qualifier Austin Krajicek beat Joao Sousa 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and will next face top-seeded Stan Wawrinka.

Nick Kyrgios lost just eight points on his serve to sweep into the last eight with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Roberto Bautista Agut.

Kyrgios will face France’s Benoit Paire in the next round. Paire beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

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