Alex de Minaur's fine start to 2025 has continued with a 13th win in 15 tour outings to move into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open.
The Australian No.1 held off the persistent, hard-hitting Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4 6-4 in two hours in front of a spartan crowd in the desert.
It was a flat atmosphere but De Minaur raced across the hardcourt as if backed by a raucous crowd, his trademark energy paying off as he blunted his Dutch opponent's power.
The second seed will now meet fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who will be well-rested after rattling past Nuno Borges 6-3 6-4 in 62 minutes.
Chris O'Connell's match was even shorter. Having come through qualifying the Australian found himself up against world No.16 Jack Draper and was blown away 6-2 6-1 in 59 minutes.
O'Connell, ranked 82, was broken five times whilst failing to even force a break point against the Englishman, who had dispensed with Alexei Popyrin in the previous round.
Draper, playing his first event since suffering a hip injury at the Australian Open, broke O'Connell's first service game in each set and never let the Sydneysider back into the match.
De Minaur was briefly threatened himself. At 3-2 down in the first set he had to save three break points. Having done so he pounced in the ninth game to lead 5-4 then served out to take the set in 69 minutes.
He secured the key break in the second set breaking to love in the fifth game in the midst of a run of 13 points without reply.
However, he was in danger of blowing the advantage in the tenth game when he double-faulted at 30-15, followed by being caught at the net to go 30-40 down.
Facing break point he stepped up to force deuce with roar of triumph, then served out, taking the set and the match, when Van de Zandschulp returned his second serve into the net.
A look of relief passed across De Minaur's face before he went to the net to shake hands. He knew the match was tougher than the score suggested, but he was through.
Top seed Carlos Alcaraz also moved into the last eight defeating Luca Nardi. The Italian recovered well from a poor first set to take Alcaraz into a third before losing 6-1 4-6 6-4. Alcaraz now meets Jiri Lehecka who beat Fabian Marozsan 6-4 6-2.
Elsewhere Daniil Medvedev overcame Zizou Bergs 6-2, 6-1. His next challenger will be Félix Auger-Aliassime, who advanced without having to play Hamad Mededovic.
