Top seed Novak Djokovic made a strong start to his China Open campaign on Tuesday, dismissing Lukas Rosol 6-0, 6-3.
The world no.1 opened his title defence in convincing fashion breaking the Czech four times for victory in just 53 minutes, as he improved to a 53-9 match record in 2013.
“I didn’t want to under-estimate my opponent knowing that he had few big wins in his career and he has a big serve,” said Novak. “I needed to be very fresh from the start and try to bring the positive intensity to the court, and that’s what happened.”
Match statistics: aces (4-1), double faults (0-3), total points won (58-30).
Novak will play against no.31-ranked Spaniard Fernando Verdasco for a place in the last eight (5-4 H2H record). The match is scheduled on Thursday,
Djokovic is a three-time champion in Beijing (2009-10, 2012) and is aiming to win his fourth title of the season.
Last year, he defeated Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the finals (7-6, 6-2).
Nole has teamed up with Stanislas Wawrinka in the doubles competition. They upset the second-seeded duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Robert Lindstedt 6-3, 6-3.
The Serbian-Swiss pairing will face Germans Tommy Haas and Florian Mayer in quarter-finals on Wednesday.
You can download Nole October Desktop Wallpaper here.
Photo: AP
