Four-time champion Roger Federer and third-ranked Novak Djokovic reached the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships on Wednesday.
Federer defeated Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-3, 6-4 in just over an hour, while Australian Open champion Djokovic overcame the net play of Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Federer dominated the opening set and went up early in the second before the 53rd-ranked Granollers narrowed the gap to 5-4. The second-ranked Swiss star then hit several forehand winners and sealed the win when Granollers hit a return long.
Federer's next opponent will be Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine.
Federer held serve throughout the match and led Granollers 4-2 in the second set.
''I thought today I had chances, like in the first round, to win it easier,'' he said. ''I think obviously the opportunity I had at 4-2, love-40 after playing such a good game, you know, to end up sort of losing it.
''I should have won that game and gone on to serve it out after that. But I was able to serve out regardless. I felt like I was in control.''
Tomas Berdych reached the last eight after the third-seeded Czech beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Berdych, Djokovic and Federer are the only seeded players left in the tournament. Eighth-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia was upset by Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1. Richard Gasquet of France overcame a 5-2 deficit in the second set to beat Ukrainian qualifier Sergei Bubka 6-2, 7-5.
The second-seeded Djokovic dominated his Spanish opponent in the first set, but 18 unforced errors in the second set allowed Lopez to get back into the match. The third set had several long rallies from both players. They mixed up their shots with strong baseline play and some stunning volleys that had the crowd cheering.
Djokovic allowed an early advantage to slip before breaking again for a 4-3 lead. He went up 5-3 with the help of an ace and several other serves that were clocked at 125 mph. He closed it out when Lopez netted a backhand.
Djokovic will play German Florian Mayer in the quarterfinals.
''It's been an exciting match, to be honest, even though I was struggling,'' Djokovic said.
In the third set, Djokovic said he felt the difference was his return.
''He was getting a lot of balls back and he was making me, you know, play an extra shot,'' he said.
The 41st-ranked Lopez has never beaten Djokovic in three attempts. He blamed the loss partly on an inconsistent first serve in the third set. It dropped to 43 percent and allowed Djokovic to attack the slower second serve.
Berdych failed to serve out the match after breaking for a 6-5 lead, but won two straight points from 5-5 in the tiebreaker to finally close out the win.
''It was a quite big test for me,'' said Berdych, who had a 1-9 record coming into the match against Davydenko. ''Especially against Nikolay, it's tough because he likes to play fast. He likes to play long rallies, and he's very solid from the baseline. So it was a very tough match for me.''
Gasquet's win means there will be an all-French quarterfinal in Dubai. Gasquet will play Gilles Simon, who beat qualifier Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3.
