ATP roundup: Djokovic earns quarterfinal spot in Qatar

[January 03, 2019]  World No. 1 and two-time champion Novak Djokovic earned his 12th straight win Wednesday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, beating Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in Doha.

It took Djokovic two hours to dispatch the Hungarian and book his place in the quarterfinals, where he'll face Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia. The fifth-seeded Basilashvili earned his spot in the quarters by beating Andrey Rublev, 6-3, 6-4.

Unseeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland continued his march into the quarters with a win over Nicolas Jarry of Chile. Wawrinka, still on the comeback from a 2017 knee injury, won 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Also into the quarterfinals after Wednesday action: Czech Tomas Berdych, who knocked off eighth-seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France, who took three sets to beat Maximilian Marterer of Germany 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6); and Marco Cecchinato of Italy, whose opponent, Argentinian Guido Pella, retired.

Brisbane International

Former world No. 1 Andy Murray, currently ranked 240th as he battles back from hip injuries, went out during second-round action in Brisbane, Australia, losing to Daniil Medvedev, 7-5, 6-2. The Russian hit 16 aces to earn his place in the quarterfinals against Canadian Milos Raonic on Friday.

Second-seeded Rafael Nadal withdrew from his scheduled second-round match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after having an MRI exam on a muscle strain in his left thigh.

Doctors ''say that it's a very small thing, but can become a big thing,'' Nadal said during a news conference. ''When you increase the intensity on the muscle competing, then there is a big risk to make something bigger.''

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates winning his second round match against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari

The British men suffered another blow earlier when fifth-seeded Kyle Edmund fell in straight sets to qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan, 6-7 (6), 4-6. No. 2 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan, sixth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and seventh-seeded Alex de Minaur of Australia all cruised to wins and secured their places in the quarterfinals. Unseeded Jeremy Chardy of France defeated eighth-seed Nick Kyrgios of Australia 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 to make the quarters.

Maharashtra Open

Top seed Kevin Anderson had to work extra hard to secure his second-round win over Serbian Laslo Dere in Pure, India. Dere pushed Anderson to a tiebreaker in both sets, before the South African finally won 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6).

It was no picnic for other top seeds, including No. 3 seed Gilles Simon of France, who roared back after a first-set loss to Ilya Ivashka of Belarus to win 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-1. No. 4 seed Malek Jaziri of Tunisia had to earn his quarterfinals spot in three sets with a win over Ramkumar Ramanathan of India 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5), 6-3.

--Field Level Media

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