Dominant Djokovic marches into Dubai quarter-finals

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[February 27, 2020]  (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic extended his unbeaten start to the season to 15 matches as he swatted aside German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 6-1 with ease on Wednesday to reach the Dubai Tennis Championships quarter-finals.

The Serbian world number one, who lost to Kohlschreiber at Indian Wells a year ago, was entirely dominant, sending down 23 winners and losing only 10 points on his serve as he wrapped up the win in 59 minutes without facing a break point.

"It was a great performance," Djokovic said in an on-court interview. "I enjoyed the way I played, coming out with the right focus and tactics."

Next up for the 32-year-old is a meeting with Russian seventh seed Karen Khachanov.

"I've had some interesting battles with him," Djokovic added. "He's a great guy, a very powerful player. He's one of the guys who is a pretender to be top five, top 10.

"He is very dedicated, so hopefully I'll be as sharp as I have been in the past two matches and start well."

Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece also advanced to the quarters after beating Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 7-6(1) 6-4.

The match marked the second time in five days that Tsitsipas faced Bublik, who also lost to the Greek at last week's Marseille Open, where he successfully defended his title.

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Serbia's Novak Djokovic in action during his second round match against Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

Tsitsipas will play Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff for a place in the semi-finals. Struff made short work of Nikoloz Basilashvili in their last-16 match, beating the Georgian 6-1 6-0 in 39 minutes.

Dan Evans pulled off the day's most dramatic escape in his round-of-16 meeting with Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the Briton saving three match points in a third-set tiebreak before going on to win 7-5 3-6 7-6(7).

Evans next faces 22-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev, the sixth seed.

(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)

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