Second seed Novak Djokovic again looked impressive as he continued his imperious form in China with a 6-4, 6-2 thrashing of German qualifier Rainer Schuettler. Stanislas Wawrinka and Gael Monfils became the sixth and seventh players to retire injured from the $3.24 million tournament.
World number two Nadal, still not back at his best after an injury-disrupted second half of the season, cantered through the first set but lost his serve at the start of the second.
The 23-year-old Australian Open champion battled back into the set in a marathon third game before breaking again for a 5-4 lead and serving out for victory. Sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko defused Fernando Gonzalez's serve with his mobility along the baseline to grab a sixth win in six meetings against the Chilean, 6-3, 7-5.
Simon, seeded eighth, notched up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Czech Tomas Berdych. Robin Soderling upset error-prone French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-3. Swiss Wawrinka was losing 3-6, 7-6, 4-2 to Czech Radek Stepanek when abdominal pains caused him to withdraw, while French 11th seed Monfils was down 6-2, 3-0 to Ivan Ljubicic when he quit because of a back injury.
Sania-Vania bow out
Second seeds Sania Mirza and her American partner Vania King suffered a shock 4-6, 2-6 defeat at the hands of the unseeded French pair of Julie Coin and Mathilde in the doubles event of the Japan Open, adds PTI from Osaka.
Curtains were drawn on Indian challenge at the Tashkent ATP Challenger following Rohan Bopanna and Yen Hsun Yen Lu’s 6-3, 1-6, 5-10 semifinal defeat to local favourites Denis Istomin and Murad Inoyatov in the doubles event.
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