Venus out, Djokovic prevails at China Open

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-05 18:20

BEIJING - World number three Venus Williams lost to Russian teenager Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for the second time in a week to exit the $6.6 million China Open with a 3-6 6-1 6-4 second round defeat on Monday.

Venus out, Djokovic prevails at China Open

Venus Williams of the US reacts after losing a point during her second round match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing October 5, 2009. [Agencies]

The 18-year-old world number 39 simply refused to be awed by Williams and dominated the last two sets of the 132-minute contest to claim her second win over the seven-times grand slam winner after last Monday's upset in Tokyo.

Earlier on centre court, Novak Djokovic shrugged off the effects of jet lag to become the first seed to reach the men's second round with a 6-3 7-5 victory over Victor Hanescu.

The Serbian ultimately justified his second seeding but struggled to impose his game on his 1.98-metre (6ft 6in) opponent throughout the absorbing, if not high quality, contest.

After winning the first set reasonably comfortably, the world number four broke his Romanian opponent twice at the start of the second only for Hanescu to immediately break back.

FIZZING WINNER

A fizzing crosscourt winner for his fifth break of the match finally sealed Djokovic's place in the last 16 but he will need more consistency if he is to win a third title of the year this week.

"That's the first round, you have to get used to the ups and downs," said the 22-year-old, who was playing his first match since his U.S. Open semi-final defeat to Roger Federer.

"I am aware I need to raise my level of performance to get far in the tournament. I'll have a rest tomorrow ... I'm still a bit jet-lagged, I think you could see that in the second set."

In other men's matches, Croatian Ivo Karlovic's sunglasses failed to prevent him from falling to a 7-6 4-6 6-1 loss to German Philipp Kohlschreiber, while Spain's Tommy Robredo thrashed German Benjamin Becker 6-2 6-1.

Spain's top seed and world number two Rafa Nadal returns from injury in his opening match against a fellow former China Open champion Marcos Baghdatis on Tuesday.

In the women's draw, normal business was resumed for one of the surprises of the U.S. Open when Belgian teenager Yanina Wickmayer, a semi-finalist at Flushing Meadow, was beaten 5-7 6-3 6-3 by Russian Alisa Kleybanova.

World number one Dinara Safina, who must at least match Serena Williams's progress in Beijing to retain the top ranking, plays China's Zhang Shuai in the second round later on centre court.