Zhang Ze enters second round — ATP China Open

Last week Venus and Gong reached the semifinals at the Shenzhen ATP tournament. “He’s one of the best players in the game with his uncle Toni who has been with him for his entire career”.

Sitak has a current ATP ranking of 45 while Venus is 49. As the tour winds through Asia, Nadal will take advantage of the tournaments to prepare for a better 2016 season.

Nadal previously admitted that he was battling anxiety and lacking confidence, but he vowed to impede those emotions so as not to hamper his performance next season. After securing a break in the third game of the opener, Nadal was broken back immediately when the 24-year-old Chinese executed a nifty dropper and backed it up with a forehand volley victor.

But the Spaniard has confounded expectations a couple of times by rebounding from seemingly insurmountable injury problems to reclaim his place at tennis’s top table.

“I was not able to control my emotions on court for a lot of months, so when that happens it’s nearly impossible to play well, no?” he said. Toni Nadal said the 29-year-old should consider following Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and others by bringing in a superstar mentor if the turnaround does not come soon.

“It’s true that this year he’s going a little down, but I’m sure the comeback of Rafael is coming soon”, Toni said in an interview in Beijing.

Federer, 34, is enjoying an Indian summer under Stefan Edberg.

“I know it is obvious that I need results to confirm that, but we are nearly at the end of this season and I have time to keep playing the last tournaments of the year with the chance to practise the things that I need to do for next year”.

Earlier, Nadal had also posted a straight-sets win over home hope Di Wu.

Nadal, 29, was playing for the first time since his third-round defeat at the US Open, but it was a far from satisfying return as the 14-time Grand Slam-winner continued to grope for form.