Novak Djokovic eased into the quarter finals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha on Wednesday beating Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-2.
The world number one, who beat Dustin Brown in the first round on Monday by an identical scoreline, needed 69 minutes to beat Verdasco, breaking the Spaniard twice in each set. Djokovic’s win takes his head to head record against Verdasco to 8-4 overall and 5-1 on outdoor hard courts.
As ever, a Djokovic win was built on a strong second serve performace, whether serving or returning. The Serb won 65% of his own second serve points and saved both break points he faced, while limiting Verdasco to winning just 32% of his second serves.
In 2015, Doha was the only event where Djokovic did not reach at least the final, losing to Karlovic in the quarter finals. He will be able to extend his lead at the top of the ATP rankings if he reaches the semi finals or better. Djokovic has now won 28 of his last 29 matches, stretching back to the 2015 US Open.
Djokovic goes on to face Leonardo Mayer in the quarter finals. The Argentinian secured his place with a comfortable 6-2 6-4 win over Pablo Andujar, during which he did not face a break point.
In other early results in Doha on Wednesday, Jeremy Chardy beat fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2 6-4, Illya Marchenko, who beat David Ferrer yesterday, followed up with a 6-4 6-2 win over Teymuraz Gabashvili, and Andrey Kuznetsov won his match against Ricardis Berankis 7-6 6-1.
