BEIJING (Reuters) - Third seed Vera Zvonareva crumbled to a 6-1 6-2 defeat by Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in the third round of the China Open on Wednesday and there was more disappointment for home fans as Jie Cheng was bundled out by Agnieszka Radwanska.
Zvonareva, the world number three, had no answer to the attacking groundstrokes of 18th seed Ivanovic in a one-sided opening set. The Russian tried to mix things up in the second but could make little impression and was left on the floor by one wrong-footing forehand by her opponent.
Second seed Victoria Azarenka secured a last 16 berth with a 7-6 6-3 victory over Slovakian Polona Hercog.
Jie enjoyed strong support from a partisan crowd in the 15,000-seater arena but the world No.72's hopes of claiming a major scalp were crushed by Radwanska in a 6-1 6-4 defeat.
With French Open champion Li Na a surprise first-round casualty China's sole survivor in the tournament is lowly-ranked wildcard Ze Zhang who faces a daunting task against Frenchamn Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the men's second round on Thursday.
In the men's draw, Spain's Fernando Verdasco came back from a set behind against Italy's Flavio Cipolla, winning 2-6 6-1 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals. Russia's Mikhail Youzhny beat Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-7 6-2 7-5.
(Editing by Martyn Herman)
This story corrects Azarenka's seeding to second
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