Venus Williams' recent resurgence came to a halt at the China Open as Ana Ivanovic progressed to round three with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 victory on Tuesday.

American Williams, a seven-time grand slam winner, rolled back the years to claim the Wuhan Open title at the age of 35 last week - her biggest victory on the WTA Tour for five years.

However, the world number 14 saw her participation in Beijing ended by sixth seed Ivanovic, who rebounded from losing serve in game seven to take the opener on a tie-break.

Ivanovic - who trailed 9-2 in the head-to-head before the match - then needed just 39 minutes in the second set to book her spot in the next round.

Third seed Flavia Pennetta continued to show signs of rustiness in her first tournament since winning the US Open.

The Italian needed three sets to beat Han Xinyun in round one and was again taken the distance by Teliana Pereira in a 3-6 6-0 6-4 win.

Caroline Wozniacki needed a victory to keep alive her hopes of playing in the WTA Finals in Singapore and the Dane - seeded eighth - did just that with a 7-5 6-0 triumph over Wang Qiang.

Wozniacki now meets 10th seed Angelique Kerber, who beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-1 6-4, while Andrea Petkovic saw off Sam Stosur 6-2 7-5.

In other matches, Sara Errani overcame a second-set blip to defeat Caroline Garcia 6-4 3-6 6-1, and 12th seed Timea Bacsinszky was a 7-5 6-2 victor against Mariana Duque-Marino.

The WTA confirmed that Belinda Bencic had withdrawn from the tournament with a hand injury, giving Mirjana Lucic-Baroni a bye to the third round.