JOIN USDjokovic, Murray sail through
Second seed Novak Djokovic served well and barely broke a sweat as he marched past Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters tennis on Thursday.
The world number two from Serbia, who last week won the China Open in Beijing, served 12 aces and lost seven points on his serve to continue his rich vein of form.
"I'm trying to enjoy the efficiency of my serve," Djokovic told reporters.
"I'm not very well known around the tour for big serving. But so far in this tournament, and also in Beijing, it has been working very well for me,’’ he added.
"It has been giving me a lot of free points, a lot of confidence in the matches,’’ the Serb added.
Defending champion Andy Murray, who had a bye in the first round and a walkover in the second, also had an easy outing against Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov and won 6-2, 6-2 in under an hour.
Big-serving American John Isner, seeded number eight, hit 17 aces to Radek Stepanek's four but the Czech still managed to eke out a 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 victory to set up a quarterfinal date with third seed Murray.
Fourth seed Tomas Berdych battled past American Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 in two hours 13 minutes to keep alive his hopes of qualifying for November's season-ending World Tour Finals in London.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seeded fifth, also remained on course for London by defeating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 7-6.
"I feel like I (am) playing (a) really good level," Tsonga said. "I played great. I think I (have) improved my game a bit these last couple of months,’’ the Frenchman added.
"I (have) worked a lot. It's only now (that) I (have) started to play well, so I hope I will continue to play like this,’’ he said.
Indians reach quarters
Meanwhile, Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna and Indo-Czech pairing of Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek registered straight set victories to advance to the quarterfinals.
Bhupathi and Bopanna, seeded seventh, defeated American-British unseeded pair of Treat Huey and Jonathan Marray 7-6 (11-9), 6-4 in one hour and 16 minutes.
The Indians, who got a first round bye, next face a tough task against second seeds Max Miryni and Daniel Nestor, who overcame Tomas Berdych-Nenad Zimonjic 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).
Paes and Stepanek also scored a straight sets victory over the American-South African duo of Sam Querry and Kevin Anderson in little over an hour.
Paes-Stepanek won 6-4, 6-4 and will next face Jurgen Melzer and Milos Raonic, who upset eighth seeds Alexander Peya-Bruno Soares 6-3, 6-4 for a place in the last eight.