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| Elena Dementieva © Gallo Images |
Fourth seed Elena Dementieva continued her golden run at the Olympic tennis centre with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Hungarian Melinda Czink in the second round of the $6.6 million China Open on Tuesday.
Playing on court number one rather than the central arena where she won Olympic gold last year, the Russian struggled with her serve a little but never looked in real danger against world number 51 Czink.
She remained in the hunt for her fourth title of the season, and extended her winning run at the venue to eight matches, with her fifth break of serve when her opponent netted after 99 minutes.
The 27-year-old's clear popularity with the Olympic-mad Beijing crowd will be tested, however, when she faces China's number one Li Na in the last 16.
Next up on the sunbathed number one court will be second seed Serena Williams, who will reclaim the number one world ranking if she beats Ekaterina Makarova.
Dinara Safina's shock second round defeat at the hands of 226th-ranked Chinese wildcard Zhang Shuai on Monday evening left the way open for Williams to end the Russian's 25-week reign at the top.
Safina's brother and 2004 China Open champion Marat Safin earlier had a straightforward 6-4 6-2 first round win over Argentine Jose Acasuso to start one of his last events as he heads towards retirement.
American James Blake also reached the men's second round with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 win over German qualifier Florian Mayer.
Defending men's champion Andy Roddick, chasing one of the last three remaining spots in November's season-ending World Tour Finals, faces Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot later on Tuesday.
Top seed Rafael Nadal returns from a layoff for an abdominal injury to play his opening match against fellow former China Open champion Marcos Baghdatis in the following match on centre court.
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