Roger Federer sustained his bid for a record ninth title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle after he brushed aside Malek Jaziri 6-3 7-5 to advance to the quarter-finals here.
The top-seeded Federer needed just 68 minutes to dismiss a challenge from the 64th-ranked Tunisian, who had stretched the Swiss to three sets in their previous meeting in Dubai 2013.
The battle began with both players consolidating their serves before Federer drew the first blood by converting a break point opportunity on offer and went on to take the first set 6-3.
Jaziri made a strong comeback in the second as he broke his fancied counterpart for love to cruise for a 2-0 lead. At 4-1, however, Federer broke back to make it a 5 games apiece.
The Swiss superstar, then, took down Jaziri’s service game again and held on to his serve to win the second set 7-5, and eventually sealed his berth into the last-eight stage.
Up next for him awaits 5th seed David Goffin of Belgium, who sailed into the quarter-finals after his opponent Sergiy Stakhovsky retired midway during the match due to back injury.
No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem extended his unbeaten streak on grass to 6 match wins after the Austrian rallied from an early break to clinch a 6-4 6-1 victory against Teymuraz Gabashvili.
Local favorite Philipp Kohlschreiber, the No. 8 seed, held the home hopes high subsequent to enduring 26 aces from Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic en route a 6-7 6-4 7-5 victory here.
