BEIJING — Novak Djokovic churned toward Rafael Nadal's all-time record for unbeaten starts to a tournament as he demolished Chinese No. 1 Zhang Ze in less than an hour here Thursday. The world No. 1 showed no mercy to Zhang, ranked 219, in front of his home fans as he ended local hopes 6-2, 6-1 in 55 minutes to reach his sixth China Open quarterfinal. Djokovic, unbeaten in five appearances, now equals Jimmy Connors with 26 wins at a tournament before suffering a single defeat, in sight of Nadal's record of 31 at the French Open. Earlier, Ivo Karlovic bludgeoned his way into the record books for career aces, and Garbine Muguruza had an eventful 22nd birthday as she smashed a racket, reached the WTA Finals and then celebrated with cake. Muguruza was frustrated by Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni but she gathered herself for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 win which qualified her for the glitzy, eight-player season finale in Singapore. The day's most historic achievement came from Karlovic, who broke Goran Ivanisevic's record for career aces as he went down to Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas. The 6ft 11ins (2.11m) Karlovic hammered 26 aces in his 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (9/7) defeat, reaching a total of 10,247 and surpassing compatriot Ivanisevic's 10,237 along the way. Last month's US Open finalists both also suffered upsets with New York winner Flavia Pennetta, who is set to retire at the end of the season, going out 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Pennetta's defeat came after fellow Italian Roberta Vinci was beaten 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 by Bethanie Mattek-Sands, in yet another surprise at the unpredictable Beijing tournament. In another men's match, Fabio Fognini rallied to beat seventh-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Cilic enters quarters Marin Cilic overpowered Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-3 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Japan Open. The sixth-seeded Croat saved all five break points he faced to set up a quarterfinal with second-seeded Kei Nishikori, who is bidding for his third Japan Open title. Cilic, who is seeking his first title of the year and the 14th of his career, hit a powerful forehand to wrap up the match in 73 minutes. Cilic beat Nishikori in the final of the 2014 US Open but the Japanese player won their last meeting in the semifinals of the Citi Open in August and owns a 6-3 record against the Croatian. In other matches, qualifier Austin Krajicek beat Joao Sousa 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and will next face top-seeded Stan Wawrinka. Nick Kyrgios lost just eight points on his serve to sweep into the last eight with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Roberto Bautista Agut. Kyrgios will face France's Benoit Paire in the next round. Paire beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. Both Nishikori and Wawrinka had the day off after booking their places in the quarterfinals Wednesday. — Agencies
