BEIJING (AFP) - Daniela Hantuchova battled into the third round of the China Open on Wednesday as local favourite Zheng Jie restored some pride to Chinese tennis with an emphatic win.

In a seesawing evening match under the floodlights, the Slovakian seventh seed beat Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1, 0-6, 7-5.

The world number 13 looked set for a routine victory after taking the first set easily but her powerful Thai opponent came back strongly, winning the second set without losing a game.

In the deciding third set the players traded breaks, with Hantuchova eventually holding her nerve to serve out for victory.

Late Wednesday evening, Jelena Jankovic was due to take on Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak, looking to join Hantuchova in the third round.

A tournament win here for Jankovic would take her to within a handful of points of Serena Williams at the top of the women's game.

Play was suspended until mid-afternoon due to steady rain, but when the action got underway, China's Zheng completed a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 win over Agnieszka Radwanska.

Zheng, who started her match Tuesday evening, said the interruption made it tough for her. She said she had also felt unwell in the run-up to the clash.

"Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday), I thought about withdrawing but the China Open is a tournament in my homeland so I thought I'd better keep trying," the world number 30 said.

Zheng said her first-round victory over the 10th-ranked Pole would be a boost.

"To beat a top-ten player I think will give me more confidence and I hope I will end the year with a higher ranking," added Zheng, who reached a career-high of number 27 in 2006.

In other first round results on Wednesday, men's fifth seed Fernando Verdasco eased through against Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 6-3, and US eighth seed Sam Querrey survived a scare, battling back against compatriot Jesse Levine to win 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).

Jankovic and fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic are seeded one and two in the 600,000-dollar China Open, with both chasing the women's number one spot, currently held by Serena Williams.

In the men's 524,000-dollar tournament, 2007 champion and Olympic silver medallist Fernando Gonzalez, who starts his defence Thursday, will face a tough battle to retain his title in Beijing, with top seeds David Ferrer and Andy Roddick in the hunt.