Nadal, Li advance at China Open

Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in their match at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, Oct 2, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

Nadal, the world number two, dropped two serves but broke back three times in the opening set to take it at 6-4.

In the second set, both players held serve well until the match was dragged into tiebreak. The gritty Spaniard pulled off some convincing groundstrokes to nail down the tiebreak and the whole match at 7-3.

The second round on women's part were all wrapped up on Wednesday, with Polona Hercog of Slovenia dismissing Serb Ana Ivanovic in straight sets - it was her third career win over a top 15 player.

"It was a big challenge for me to go out there on a big court and play against Ana Ivanovic, and I'm just really happy the way it turned out," Hercog said. "It's probably one of the biggest victories for me. I beat Bartoli before when she was top 10, but Ana is on her way back so it's a very big win for me."

Li, Serena cruise on, Venus out at China Open

Nadal makes winning start at China Open