This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Andy Murray had to earn his place in the Qatar Open quarter-finals after a difficult 7-6, 7-5 win against the Austrian Gerald Melzer. The pair shared four breaks of serve in an opening set that was taken to a tie‑break by Melzer, who fought back from 5-0 down to 6-6 in the first-set decider.

The second set was just as frustrating for Murray despite the world No1 hitting 10 aces and seeing 78% of his first serves in, but he edged past his 26-year-old opponent to set up a meeting against Spain’s Nicolas Almagro.

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The world No44 sealed his place in the last eight with a 7-6, 7-6 victory against Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber. The world No2 Novak Djokovic eased into the next phase with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos in 1hr 13min. Fernando Verdasco defeated the fourth seed David Goffin to advance to the quarter-finals in Doha with a 6-1, 7-6 win against the Belgian, while the evergreen Radek Stepanek was a 6-3, 6-2 victor against Arthur De Greef.

The third seed Tomas Berdych won the battle of the Czechs as he defeated compatriot Jiri Vesely 7-6, 1-6, 6-1 while the big-serving Ivo Karlovic defeated Karen Khachanov 7-6, 7-6.

Britain’s Kyle Edmund will face the world No4 Stan Wawrinka in the Brisbane International quarter-finals after both players came through their second-round matches on Wednesday. Edmund progressed when his opponent Lucas Pouille retired when he was trailing the Briton 6-3, 3-1, while the second seed Wawrinka defeated Viktor Troicki 7-6, 6-4.

The third seed Kei Nishikori joined the last eight after defeating the qualifier Jared Donaldson 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

But eighth seed David Ferrer crashed out of the event following a 4-6 7-5 7-5 defeat at the hands of Australian Jordan Thompson.

In the Aircel Chennai Open, number one seed Marin Cilic fell to a second round defeat to world number 117 Jozef Kovalik by a 7-6 (7/5) 5-7 7-5 scoreline.

Both men earned two breaks apiece during the match but the 24-year-old Slovak used his timely second to his advantage in the decider to serve out one of his biggest victories in his career so far.

Third seed Albert Ramos Vinolas needed just over an hour as he dropped just two games in his comfortable 6-2 6-0 success over Belgium’s Steve Darcis.

Israel’s Dudi Sela produced a routine 6-2 6-2 win over South Korea’s Chung Hyeon while Russian Daniil Medvedev won 6-4 6-3 against Yen-Hsun Lu.