Dubai: Fourth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the last one to book his place in the singles quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic at the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open here late on Wednesday.
Tsonga, a losing semi-finalist against eventual champion Juan Martin Del Potro at last week’s Marseille Open, was in complete control with a dominant show of power hitting against an opponent ranked 91 places below him.
The 27-year-old Frenchman, a winner at the season-opening Qatar Open, started off on a blistering pace knocking off the first five games for a 5-0 lead. And just when he served for the set he seemed to lose his concentration as Rosol took the next three games till the Frenchman held and won the set.
In the second set too, Tsonga broke and then held for 2-0. But Rosol, who was making his second appearance in Dubai, refused to give in till the Frenchman upped his game and helped himself to an easy 6-4 win to book his place against Del Potro – who had defeated qualifier Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-2.
Earlier, second seed Roger Federer improved his domination over Feliciano Lopez to a career 10-0 with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.
Never really threatened by his second left-handed opponent in as many days, Federer maintained his calm and poise to set up a quarter-final meeting with Mikhail Youzhny – who had secured an upset 6-2, 7-6 win against eighth seed Mardy Fish from the US.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic cast his eyes on a record fourth straight title here as he eased past Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6, 6-3 to set a meeting against countryman and friend Janko Tipsarevic, who had beaten Italian Flavio Cipolla 6-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Great Britain’s Andy Murray set himself up against fifth seed Tomas Berdych following a terse 6-3, 6-4 victory over Swiss journeyman Marco Chiudinelli, while Berdych had hammered his way past qualifier Lukas Lacko 6-1, 6-2.
The quarter-finals will be played from 2 pm on Thursday with Murray taking on Berdych followed by the match between Federer and Youzhny at 5 pm. In the evening session starting at 7 pm, Djokovic will be up against Tipsarevic followed by the Del Potro versus Tsonga quarter-final.
Order of Play (Thursday)
Centre Court (Start at 2 pm) Andy Murray vs Tomas Berdych; (5 pm) Roger Federer vs Mikhail Youzhny; (7 pm) Novak Djokovic vs Janko Tipsarevic; Juan Martin Del Potro vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Court 1 (Start at 2 pm) Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram vs Robert Lindstedt/Horia Tecau; Michael Kohlmann/Sergiy Stakhovsky vs Mariusz Frystenberg/Marcin Matkowski; Michael Llodra/Nenad Zimonjic vs Julian Knowle/Alexander Peya; Mahesh Bhupathi/Rohan Bopanna vs Paul Hanley/Jamie Murray.
Results
(Singles) Andy Murray bt Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-4; Novak Djokovic bt Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6 (5), 6-4; Janko Tipsarevic bt Flavio Cipolla 6-7, 6-1, 6-1; Tomas Berdych bt Lukas Lacko 6-1, 6-2; Mikhail Youzhny bt Mardy Fish 6-2, 7-6; Juan Martin Del Potro bt Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-2; Roger Federer bt Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-3; Jo-Wilfred Tsonga bt Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-4.
(Doubles) Paul Hanley/Jamie Murray bt Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureishi/Jean-Julien Rojer 4-6, 7-6 (12), 1-0;
Robert Lindstedt/Horia Tecau bt Leander Paes/Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 7-5; Michael Llodra/Nenad Zimonjic bt Marsel Ilhan/Malek Jaziri 6-1, 6-3; Mahesh Bhupathi/Rohan Bopanna bt Lukas Dlouhy/Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 7-5.
