Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer reached the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships in contrasting fashion on Wednesday.
Djokovic struggled to overcome the inspired net play of Feliciano Lopez of Spain, winning 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Federer had an easier time, beating Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-3, 6-4 in just over an hour.
They were joined by Tomas Berdych in the last eight after the third-seeded Czech beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Berdych, Djokovic and Roger Federer are the only three seeded players left in the tournament after eighth-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia was upset 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 by Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine.
Also, 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 Lopez in the first set, but 18 unforced errors in the second set allowed the Spaniard to get back into the match. The decider was a pulsating affair with several long rallies as both players 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 200kmh and closed it out when Lopez sent a backhand into the net.
"It's been an exciting match, to be honest, even though I was struggling," said Djokovic, who now plays Florian Mayer of Germany. "I don't think I've played bad, actually. He played really well in the second set. I did make some unforced errors, but the match turned around and he felt the momentum and he was playing better than I did most of that second set.
"I was aware of the fact that I should return well and that should be the key of my victory tonight. But to be honest, I was a little bit surprised with the way he was returning tonight. He was getting a lot of balls back and he was making me, you know, play an extra shot."
The 41st-ranked Lopez, who hasn't beaten Djokovic in three attempts, said he played some of his best tennis but just couldn't maintain the momentum. He blamed the loss partly on an inconsistent first serve in the final set, which dropped to 43 percent and allowed Djokovic to feast on his slower, second serve.
"This is one of those matches, because you are practising every day and dreaming since you were young to become professional tennis player, no? Playing Novak, tonight here with the full crowd, it's great match for any of us I think," Lopez said. "So overall, I think I played great. I just had to play very, very good to beat Novak. I did for a while, but in the third set he was a better player than I was."
Federer started well, breaking the Spaniard for the first time to go up 3-1 in the first set. Federer broke Granollers a second time to go up 1-0 in the second set and cruised home. He even offered a memorable shot or two, rushing to return a lob from Granollers and then firing a forehand winner that sent the Spaniard stumbling backward.
"I thought today I had chances like in the first round to win it easier," Federer 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."
Berdych appeared to be on his way to an easy victory when he broke Davydenko to go up 5-1 in the first set, but the Russian came alive to take two straight games before Berdych closed out the set.
Davydenko, hampered by several missed volleys and errant forehands in the first set, settled down in the second. He had two sets points at 5-4 but Berdych saved the first with an ace and the second when Davydenko over-hit a forehand.
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," Berdych said. "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.
