Djokovic marches on
Novak defeats local hero Zhang Ze to reach China Open quarters
Beijing, Oct. 8: 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 no. 1 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 quarterfinal.
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.
“I guess as I keep coming back each year with that positive record, obviously gives me more confidence knowing that I played so well in the past on this court,” Djokovic said.
Zhang, 25, could only applaud after he was outclassed in all facets by the Serbian 10- time Grand Slam- winner, who has only ever dropped three sets at the China Open.
Earlier Ivo Karlovic bludgeoned his way into the record books for career aces, and Garbine Muguruza had an eventful 22nd birthday as she smashed a racquet, reached the WTA Finals and then celebrated with cake.
Muguruza was frustrated by Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic- Baroni but she gathered herself for a 1- 6, 6- 2, 61 win which qualified her for the glitzy, eight- player season finale in Singapore. Eyeing their eight title of the season, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis entered the semifinals here.
Fresh from their Wuhan Open triumph, the top seeds managed to prevail over the German- Czech pair of Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova 7- 6 ( 5), 6- 4 in their quarter- final match that lasted lasted an hour and 20 minutes.
The pair have bagged seven women’s doubles titles this year so far, including two Grand Slams.