Zverev eases through Beijing opener

World number six Zverev has won one title this year and still has work to do to reach the ATP Finals in London, where he triumphed last year.

But the German enjoyed a successful start to his week in Beijing, beating Tiafoe with relative ease, facing just a single break point over the two sets.

Zverev was joined in the second round by fourth seed Karen Khachanov, who defeated Pablo Cuevas 6-2 7-6 (9-7) – the Uruguayan passing up four chances to force a deciding set.

Plenty to smile about after that rally @ChinaOpen | @FTiafoe | @AlexZverev(: @TennisTV) pic.twitter.com/0ZBXLDvKSE

— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) September 30, 2019

Grigor Dimitrov remained unable to build on his run to the US Open semi-finals and was beaten 6-2 7-5 by 21-year-old Andrey Rublev.

Jeremy Chardy defeated Marco Cecchinato 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 7-6 (7-4), while there were contrasting fortunes for three British players in action.

Kyle Edmund came up short against Zhang Zhizhen and lost 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-5), but Dan Evans saw off Zhe Li and Cameron Norrie benefited from Cristian Garin's retirement.

At the Japan Open Tennis Championships, seeds Lucas Pouille and Marin Cilic came through their openers in straight sets, beating Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 6-3 and Yuichi Sugita 6-4 6-4 respectively.

There is home representation in the next round, though, as Go Soeda battled past Jan-Lennard Struff in three sets and Yoshihito Nishioka brushed aside Joao Sousa.