Novak Djokovic fires 10 aces to beat Victor Hanescu and reach second round at China Open

Djokovic’s 10 aces help him advance at China Open

BEIJING — Novak Djokovic fired 10 aces in a 6-3, 7-5 win over Romania’s Victor Hanescu on Monday to advance to the second round of the China Open.

Second-seeded Djokovic took just one hour, 29 minutes to claim the win, despite some inventive play at the net by the 27th ranked Hanescu.

A key moment came in the first set when, up 4-2, Djokovic saved two break points to hold serve and remain in control. The second set began with the players trading breaks to two games apiece. Each then held serve until Djokovic broke Hanescu to go up 6-5 and served out for the match.

“I was happy overall with the way I played. It’s just that I thought I could finish the job earlier. It was a little bit frustrating the way I was losing some points in the second set,” said Djokovic, who is ranked fourth in the world. “That’s the first round. You have to get used to the ups and downs a little bit and hopefully the next match will be more consistent and I’ll be able to play my best.”

Among Hanescu’s woes were six double faults, against three for his Serbian rival.

Djokovic said he hoped a day off Tuesday would allow him to overcome the effects of jet lag and acclimatize himself to the dry, sunny Beijing weather before facing the tougher competition ahead.

“I’m aware of that and I’m aware as well of the fact I need to raise level of performance in order to far in the tournament, so that’s something that I’ll work on …. you could see that in the second set I was a little bit sleepy,” Djokovic said.

On the women’s side, Venus Williams was to face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the Russian who defeated her in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last week.

Top-ranked Dinara Safina, who could lose her No. 1 ranking to Serena Williams if she finishes behind the American at Beijing, plays China’s Zhang Shuai.

Earlier Monday, Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova ousted Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 6-2 and Italy’s Francesca Schiavone got an easy route to the second round when Germany’s Sabine Lisicki retired in the second set due to illness.

On Tuesday, No. 2 Rafael Nadal and defending China Open champion Andy Roddick start their campaigns in the men’s draw.

The $4.5 million premier level event is being played at Beijing’s National Tennis Center, the site of last year’s Olympic tennis competition in which Nadal claimed the gold medal.