Dubai: Second seed Lucas Pouille overcame Karen Khachanov 6-4 3-6 6-3 yesterday to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and avenge his defeat by the Russian in last weekend’s final in Marseille.
Meanwhile, Tunisian wild card Malek Jaziri, who beat top seed Grigor Dimitrov in the first round, advanced over Robin Haase 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3), saving all eight break points he faced.
The Frenchman Pouille served seven aces and converted three break points to prevail in an hour and 39 minutes.
Up next for the Frenchman is a first career meeting with Yuichi Sugita, who put down Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (4) 6-4.
“I knew it would be a tough one,” Pouille, who won the Montpellier title earlier this month, said.
“In the final in Marseille, he won just three points more than me. I knew it was very close. I had to play some good tennis... I’m just very happy that I got my revenge today.”
Pouille, the highest seed remaining in Dubai after Grigor Dimitrov’s shock loss to Tunisian wildcard Malek Jaziri on Tuesday, broke world number 41 Khachanov in the ninth game before cruising to a one-set lead.
Decider
Khachanov hit back in the next set to drag the contest into a decider, before Pouille saved two break points in the third set and upped his game to advance.
Pouille, who also won the Montpellier title this month, is pleased with his current form.
“As long as you win, you get some confidence. I prefer to win a lot of matches, play a lot.
“I’m very happy with this month of February so far.”
Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, seeded third, also reached the quarter-final after a 6-4 6-7(2) 6-1 victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert in windy conditions.
He next faces Borna Coric, who eased past Benoit Paire 6-1 6-4.
Paire’s racquet disintegrated in the second game against Coric but it wasn’t the only thing to fall apart as he lost in 63 minutes, serving seven double-faults and dropping serve five times.
Bautista needed almost two and a half hours to advance as Herbert forced a third set tiebreaker.
“I really had to fight so hard, it was tough to feel good on the court today,” said Bautista, a Spaniard ranked number 23 in the world.
“We had a lot of wind, it was not easy to play.
“I had a lot of chances to break him in the second set. But he started to play very aggressive with the second serve.
“The wind today made it tougher, make it more difficult. Today it was not easy to play brilliant, but I tried to play solid, tried to play long points against him.”
Russian Evgeny Donskoy, who upset Roger Federer here a year ago in the second round, hammered fourth seed Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-1.
Greek wildcard Stefanos Tsitsipas dumped out sixth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6 6-3 6-4.
&uuid=(email))