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Novak Djokovic into Dubai quarter-finals

Team MVR

Novak Djokovic, playing his first tournament since his deportation from Australia, continued his fight to keep his number one ranking with a convincing 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) victory over Karen Khachanov in Dubai to move into his 10th consecutive quarter-final on Wednesday.

The Serbian top seed, who has not lost before the last-eight stage at any tournament since Monte Carlo 10 months ago, must at least reach the semi-finals in the Emirates to stand a chance of stopping Daniil Medvedev from replacing him at the summit of the rankings.

Medvedev is competing in Acapulco this week and is guaranteed to end Djokovic’s world number one reign if he clinches the title.

There are other scenarios however that could allow Djokovic to extend his 361-week at at the top, should Medvedev falter in Mexico, but the Serb must at least make it to the final four in Dubai.

Djokovic followed up his opening round win over Lorenzo Musetti with a fifth victory in six meetings with Russian world number 26 Khachanov.

The five-time Dubai champion needed one hour 38 minutes to overcome Khachanov and set up a quarter-final against Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely, who knocked out Spanish eighth seed and last week’s Doha champion Roberto Bautista Agut.

Earlier on Centre Court, Jannik Sinner stopped Andy Murray from joining the 700 match-wins club as the Italian fourth seed advanced to the Dubai quarter-finals for a second consecutive year with a 7-5, 6-2 success over the former world number one.

The 20-year-old Italian has improved his 2022 record to an impressive 9-1 and next takes on fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz.

Second-seeded Andrey Rublev picked up a sixth consecutive victory with a battling 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 performance against South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo to reach his third ATP quarter-final in as many weeks.