Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates his victory over Zhang Ze of China during the men's singles second round match at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, China, Oct. 8, 2015. Djokovic was qualified for the next round after beating Zhang 2-0. (Photo: Xinhua/Xing Guangli)
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic advanced to the last 8 in China Open here on Thursday with a ruthless 6-2, 6-1 win over China's Zhang Ze.
This was the first time that Djokovic, the current world No. 1, confronted a Chinese player. The vast disparity between the two players was obivious, and the match lasted only 55 minutes.
"I didn't play very well in today's match, Djokovic just gave out his own level," Zhang said. "There is still a huge gap between me and those top players like him."
Zhang commited that he really cherished this chance to play with Djokovic: "Before the match today,I was very excited. I was looking forward to this match with Novak because I don't have many opportunities
to meet with those top players. I want to take each opportunity to play with them."
Just two days ago, another Chinese tennis player Wu Di was knocked out by third-seeded Rafal Nadal, the former world No. 1, in the first round.
In Zhang's opinion, those top players are much more professional than Chinese players.
"As a tennis player, the requirement is demanding, especially for the top-level players," he said. "In some details, they are better than us."
