Laura Robson Crashes Out of China Open as Rafael Nadal Continues March to the Top

Laura Robson's challenge for the China Open has ended in the second round after suffering defeat at the hands of world number nine Angelique Kerber.

The British number one struggled to deal with the power of her opponent who did not allow Robson a single break point opportunity in the first set as she cruised to an emphatic 6-1 6-2 victory in 68 minutes in Beijing.

Robson struggled from the start after losing her first service game and proceeded to make her share of unforced errors as the two time grand slam semi-finalists Kerber proved to be too stern a test for the 19-year-old.

Meanwhile, US Open champion Rafael Nadal sailed into the second round following a 6-2 6-4 victory over Colombian hopeful Santiago Giraldo to continue his efforts to reclaim the number one world ranking spot from Novak Djokovic.

Should the Serbian fail to win the tournament then Nadal will have the chance to reclaim his spot at the summit, but Djokovic showed no early signs of faltering as he swatted away the challenge of Lukas Rosol in less than an hour with an easy 6-0 6-3 win.

Nadal has enjoyed a tremendous 2013 in hard court events, winning all 22 matches he has played on the surface this year en route to claiming 10 titles, culminating in last month's success at Flushing Meadows.

Serena Williams was given a slightly sterner test in her second round match with Francesca Schiavone as she was pushed close to the brink in both sets, but managed to seal a 6-4 7-5 victory.

She was joined by Caroline Wozniacki, Sloane Stephens, Roberta Vinci, Petra Kvitova, Sabine Lisicki and Carla Suarez Navarro in confirming their place in the third round, while Tomas Berdych, Stanislas Wawrinka, John Isner, Richard Gasquet, David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco all joined Nadal and Djokovic in the second.