Rafael Nadal stutters to victory, Novak Djokovic on fire at China Open

Beijing: Rafael Nadal stuttered to victory against one of his former ball boys at the China Open on Tuesday as top-ranked Novak Djokovic swept imperiously to his 25th straight win in Beijing.

Out-of-sorts Nadal was broken four times by China’s 230th-ranked Wu Di, who once tossed him balls and towels in Shanghai, before winning an error-strewn match 6-4, 6-4.

Nadal, 29, was playing for the first time since his third-round defeat at the US Open, but it was a far from satisfying return as the 14-time Grand Slam-winner continued to grope for form.

“My goal is recover the level especially to play my best on clay next year.” said Nadal after his victory Nadal and Wu then yielded the smoggy centre court to Djokovic and the Serb, fresh from winning his 10th Grand Slam title in New York, had little difficulty dispatching Simone Bolelli 6-1, 6-1.

The five-time champion was all over Bolelli’s second serve as he hustled the Italian off the court in just 71 minutes to take his incredible unbeaten record into a sixth China Open campaign.