BEIJING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Top seed Alexander Zverev of Germany eased past China's Shang Juncheng in straight sets, while home players Zheng Qinwen and Sun Xinran advanced to the women's third round at the China Open on Saturday.
Zverev swept aside 21-year-old wild card Shang 6-0, 6-3 to set up a men's singles quarterfinal against 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.
In the women's second round, Olympic champion Zheng advanced after Russia's Anna Kalinskaya retired while trailing 3-0 in the deciding set.
Zheng earned the first break in the eighth game of the opening set, but Kalinskaya immediately broke back. Neither player managed another break before Kalinskaya took the tiebreak to win the set 7-6 (4).
Zheng found her rhythm in the second set, using her powerful serve to take it 6-4 and force a decider.
"Kalinskaya returns very fast and flat, and her backhand is quite strong. So, the first set was not easy for me as I missed some break points and got a little bit emotional," Zheng said.
China's 16-year-old rising star Sun, who won the U.S. Open girls' singles title last month, upset 27th-seeded Cristina Bucsa of Spain 6-4, 7-5.
"I know she is a good player, but I just want to play my best. It was a bit hard at the start, but I played better and better," said Sun, who will face world No. 4 Coco Gauff in the next round.
China's Wang Xinyu and Zhu Lin were eliminated in the second round, losing to Britain's Sonay Kartal and Croatia's Donna Vekic, respectively.
Also on Saturday, eighth-seeded Iga Swiatek beat China's Gao Xinyu 6-2, 6-3, while men's third seed Daniil Medvedev cruised past Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-3.
On Sunday, women's second seed Aryna Sabalenka will face Nikola Bartunkova in the third round, while Mirra Andreeva takes on Polina Kudermetova. ■
