After a solid off-season, Stan Wawrinka is growing in confidence and beginning 2019 in a positive frame of mind. Twenty-four hours on from beating Karen Khachanov at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, the 33-year-old got the better of Nicolas Jarry of Chile 6-4, 7-6(3) over 89 minutes for a place in the quarter-finals.

Wawrinka, the 2008 Doha finalist who went 17-17 last year, broke Jarry in the fifth game of the first set and took early control of the second set tie-break. He sets up a clash against seventh-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who cruised past fellow Spaniard and qualifier Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-4 in 70 minutes.

Tomas Berdych recorded his 11th win in 15 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Fernando Verdasco, rallying from a set down to beat the eighth seed 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. The 33-year-old Czech, who reached the championship match in 2015 (l. to Ferrer), improves to 12-5 in Doha.

Berdych will meet Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the quarter-finals. The Frenchman edged past Maximilian Marterer 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(6) in two hours and 29 minutes.

Elsewhere, Argentina’s Guido Pella withdrew ahead of his second round clash against fourth seed Marco Cecchinato of Italy due to lower back pain. Pella now faces Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic, who edged past Lithuanian qualifier Ricardas Berankis 7-6(4), 0-6, 7-5 in two hours and 11 minutes.

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Djokovic Brothers Book Semi-final Spot
Marko Djokovic and Novak Djokovic continued their run in Doha, beating Damir Dzumhur and Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 to reach the semi-finals.

The Serbian brothers advanced after 89 minutes, saving eight of 11 break points en route to victory. Novak Djokovic also eliminated Dzumhur from singles action on Tuesday, dropping just three games to triumph 6-1, 6-2.

Standing between the wild cards and the championship match will be David Goffin and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Goffin and Herbert beat third seeds Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya 6-2, 3-6, 10-3.

Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop needed only 58 minutes to reach the last four, defeating Maximo Gonzalez and Nicolas Jarry 6-2, 6-4. The Dutch will meet Santiago Gonzalez and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi for a place in the final.

Twelve months ago, Grigor Dimitrov needed to save two match points to beat hometown favourite John Millman at the Brisbane International.

On Wednesday, however, Dimitrov needed only two sets. The 2017 champion held off a second-set comeback to accelerate his clean start to the 2019 season, 6-3, 6-4.

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Dimitrov led by a set and double break, 6-3, 4-1. But Millman served for a 5-4 advantage before Dimitrov broke for the fourth time and then served out the second-round match.

The Bulgarian is into the quarter-finals for the sixth time in seven Brisbane appearances. He will next meet American Denis Kudla or second seed Kei Nishikori of Japan. Nishikori leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-1; Dimitrov and Kudla split their two prior matchups.

Japanese qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama earned the upset of the tournament so far. The 26-year-old, No. 185 in the ATP Rankings, dismissed third seed Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 7-6(6), 6-4.

Uchiyama hit 15 aces and saved all three break points faced to knock out the World No. 14 Edmund, who made the Australian Open semi-finals last year. Uchiyama will will meet either Aussie Nick Kyrgios or Jeremy Chardy of France for a place in the semi-finals.

Juan Martin del Potro will miss the season’s first Grand Slam because he’s still recovering from a fractured patella suffered in October.

The World No. 5 is coming off one of his best seasons and was expected to contend for the Australian Open title. Last year, he matched his personal year-end best ATP Ranking, beat Roger Federer to win his first ATP Masters 1000 title (Indian Wells), made his second Grand Slam final (US Open) and qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals.

But the 30-year-old Argentine didn’t play again after falling on his right knee at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Del Potro retired from his third-round match against Borna Coric at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

Del Potro wrote on Twitter, “Recovery is going great and I will tell you later where I will be making my comeback. Unfortunately it won’t happen in Australia, I’ll miss you Australian Open, but I’m happy with my progress.”

I hope you have a great 2019. Recovery is going great and I will tell you later where I will be making my comeback. Unfortunately it won’t happen in Australia, I’ll miss you @AustralianOpen, but I’m happy with my progress ☺️

Happy New Year! Enjoy! ??

— Juan M. del Potro (@delpotrojuan) 31 de diciembre de 2018

Del Potro reached the third round of the Australian Open last year, the first time he had played in Melbourne since 2014. Wrist injuries forced him to miss the tournament from 2015-2016, and he opted for a longer off-season before starting the 2017 season at the Delray Beach Open.