Battle of the Sexes: Li Na triumphs against funny man Djokovic

World No 1 Novak Djokovic and China's Li Na entertained 12,000 fans at Beijing's Olympic Park with banter and fun shot making, in a battle-of-the-sexes charity match on Friday night in Beijing to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the China Open, where Na beat the Serbian.

The battle of the sexes has had a prominent place in the history of tennis stretching back to Bobby Riggs' efforts to prove a macho point against then Wimbledon champion Billy Jean King 40 years ago.

Li, US Open semifinalist and charity devotee and according to ATPWorldTour.com, leveraging a default 30-0 lead in each game they played, Na edged Djokovic 3-2 in the light-hearted mini-set they played.

Djokovic said after the match that the exhibition match had been a lot of fun and he was always very happy to contribute his time to noble causes such as charities for kids in China.

He said that the match was all about the kids to put a smile on their faces, get them excited about tennis and hopefully inspire them to become champions one day.

Next week Djokovic puts his World No 1 ranking on the line against second seed Rafael Nadal.

The pair could meet in the final in their first tournament outing since their meeting in the US Open final, which Nadal won in four sets.