China Open: Djokovic made to work hard by Hanescu

BEIJING - Novak Djokovic was made to toil by Victor Hanescu before he could win his debut match at the China Open tennis 6-3, 7-5 here Monday.

The world number four Serb, seeded second behind Rafael Nadal, rained down 10 aces in his winning performance which lasted a shade under 90 minutes.

But his win didn’t come easily. “It was a little bit frustrating the way I was losing some points in the second set,” he said after also letting loose of his grip and serving his racket as well as the ball at one point in the second set.

“It’s not the first time it has happened, but I hope it is the last. It’s certainly not comfortable that this has happened at such a big event. Unfortunately, I sweat a lot in the hand.”

Djokovic was playing for the first time since losing in the US Open semi-finals to Roger Federer in straight sets. He took rest the next week, skipping Serbia’s Davis Cup relegation match.

The 13-time singles title-winner next faces the victor from Viktor Troicki, the Bangkok finalist, and Italian Fabio Fognini.

Philipp Kohlschreiber got an opening-day win at the new combined event which features a blockbuster WTA draw.

The 22nd-ranked German, who lost the Metz final a week ago against Gael Monfils, defeated Ivo Karlovic 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-1 overcoming 27 aces from the biggest serving threat in the game.

Kohlschreiber won his 37th match of the season and next plays at the Olympic centre against one of two Russians, Kuala Lumpur winner Nikolay Davydenko or Igor Kunitsyn.

Spain’s Tommy Robredo beat German Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-1.

In women’s play, Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak claimed the first of the third-round spots with her defeat of France’s Alize Cornet 7-6(7-0), 6-4.

In the first round, there were wins for Daniela Hantuchova, through in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 and Francesca Schiavone who played only seven games before German Sabine Lisicki retired trailing 6-0, 1-0.

“I feel like it was a pretty good match for just arriving yesterday,” said Hantuchova. “I just tried to focus on trying to recover between the points and not waste much energy.

“I played a pretty smart match.

“I didn’t feel very good and felt a bit dizzy at times,” said last week’s second-round loser in Tokyo.

“I’ve had no time here to recover from a week which was quite emotional (her Japanese doubles partner Ai Sugiyama retired).”