By sportswriters Spencer Musick and Michael Butterworth
BEIJING, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Action in the China Open round of 16 began here on Wednesday with local players crashing out of the singles draw and other top seeds advancing.
Former world No. 1 Andy Murray, here in Beijing on a protected ranking after his hip surgery, was in action on the Diamond Court to start the day, taking on qualifier and fellow Briton Cameron Norrie.
Murray again needed two tiebreaks to seal the match, but this time he was less fortunate in the second and required a decider to claim a 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-1 win.
Just as he did in yesterday's round of 32 clash, Murray relied on a conservative approach from the baseline, using steady forehand groundstrokes to set up tough angles for his opponent in order to score points.
The first set saw a battle of attrition until the two players traded breaks to go 5-5. Each player would then hold the rest of their service games, requiring a tie break in which it was the qualifier who broke first, only to see his one-point lead evaporate as Murray delivered several well-placed shots cross court to seal up the opener in just over an hour.
The second set was a better showing for the qualifier than the close scoreline suggested. Norrie saved seven of the eight break points he faced and fired off four aces, staving off Murray's returns of serve with agile movement around the court. It was this approach that allowed him to dominate the tiebreak and force a decider.
But the third set could not have been more different from the first two. Murray broke Norrie twice on the way to running up a 5-0 lead, sealing the breadstick decider in only 28 minutes.
Next up for Murray is the tournament's No. 1 seed Dominic Thiem, with the Austrian breaking local hearts by beating Chinese wildcard Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-3.
Having far exceeded expectations even by progressing to this stage of the tournament, Zhang did not look out of place against the top seed in the opening stages of the match, with both players holding serve at 3-3 in the first set.
However, Thiem's greater experience soon told, as the Austrian twice broke Zhang's serve on his way to sealing the first set.
The second set followed a similar pattern, with both players trading blows and neither yielding service games, until a crucial break from Thiem when 4-3 up set the scene for the Austrian to seal the straight-sets win in a little over one hour.
Elsewhere in the men's draw, fourth seed Karen Khachanov of Russia needed two tiebreaks to dispatch France's Jeremy Chardy, who coughed up 36 unforced errors on his way to losing 7-6 (0), 7-6 (5).
Khachanov will take on Fabio Fognini in the quarterfinals, after the Italian beat Russia's Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-4.
In the women's draw, two round of 32 matches still remained, with American qualifier Jennifer Brady ousting 11th seed Madison Keys 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Keys dominated the opening set, using her preferred forehand groundstrokes down the line to break her opponent twice on the way to sealing the set in just over half an hour.
Trouble for Keys started in the second set. She built up a two-game lead by breaking Brady's first service, but the two would go on to trade breaks before Brady went one up after a series of forehand unforced errors from Keys.
A shaky forehand would be Keys' undoing in the end; she coughed up a total of 48 unforced errors - more than half of which were on the forehand side - giving her enough problems on return to render her nine aces inconsequential.
Brady now faces US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in the round of 16, who overcame 39 unforced errors and some very tight returning from her opponent in the second set to prevail against Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-6 (5).
The two players traded breaks twice to 2-2 in the opener, but Andreescu would tighten up from there, holding the rest of her service games and getting another break from some crafty all-court play that left Mertens reeling. The Romanian sealed the first set in just over half an hour.
But the second was a different story entirely. Mertens tightened up her returns considerably, getting an early break to storm into a 3-0 lead, and Andreescu would struggle to make up the gap, finally getting a break of her own to go 3-4 up.
The two players would trade breaks yet again at the end of the second set to force a nail-biting tiebreak that Andreescu secured with a netted return from Mertens. With the win, Andreescu stretched her undefeated streak to 16 consecutive matches.
Next on the Diamond Court, world No.1 Ashleigh Barty was made to work for her win against China's Zheng Saisai, ultimately winning 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2.
Barty raced into a 3-0 lead from the start, and the Australian was never truly threatened as she closed out the first set in 43 minutes.
But Zheng came back strong in the second set, ultimately prevailing 7-5 in a tiebreak after an error-strewn performance from the Australian.
Unfortunately for Zheng and the thousands of Chinese fans, Barty raised her game in the decider, breaking Zheng's serve twice and sealing a 6-2 set win with relative ease.
Barty now faces seventh seed Petra Kvitova, after the Czech player downed ninth-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-3, 6-3.
Shrugging off her surprising semifinal defeat in last week's Wuhan Open, Kvitova served up 13 aces on her way to a straight-sets win in just under 90 minutes.
Action on the Diamond Court wrapped up with third-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine defeating American Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-6 (8), 6-3.
In a titanic scrap that ran over two and a half hours - with the second set lasting almost as long as Kvitova's entire match - Svitolina served up 13 aces on her way to a hard-fought win.
Next up for the Ukrainian is a quarterfinal clash with eighth-seeded Kiki Bertens, who defeated Polona Hercog 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3.
The round of 16 at the China Open continues tomorrow. Enditem
