Dubai Tennis C'ships: Djokovic continues title quest, Sinner denies Murray his 700th career victory

The world number one Novak Djokovic maintained his strong record at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday, soaring into the quarter-finals for the 12th consecutive time.

The World No.1 has lifted the trophy in Dubai five times and continued his 2022 title bid with a dominant display against Karen Khachanov, downing the Russian 6-3, 7-6(2) in one hour and 38 minutes at the ATP 500 event.

Earlier, Jannik Sinner denied Andy Murray his 700th career victory when he defeated the former world number one 7-5 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.

Sinner, who had saved three match points against Davidovich Fokina in the first round, was never under any serious pressure from the 2017 champion and didn't face a break point, although it took until late in the first set for him to gain an advantage. Fourth-seeded Sinner did hold two break points at 2-2, but it wasn't until the pair were tied at 5-5 that he made his breakthrough by breaking Murray to love before serving out for the set.

Sinner then made the better start to the second set, breaking again to lead 1-0 and, as Murray grew increasingly angry at his failure to reverse the momentum of the contest, Sinner took a commanding lead by breaking again to lead 4-1.

Second seed Andrey Rublev also advanced to the quarter-finals, but he was challenged well by Soonwoo Kwon before winning 4-6 6-0 6-3.

He will face Mackenzie McDonald for a place in the semi-finals after the American followed up his first-round victory over defending champion Aslan Karatsev by defeating Filip Krajinovic 6-4 7-6.

( With inputs from ANI )

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