Kevin Anderson returned to the Tata Open Maharashtra quarter-finals on Wednesday, overcoming the challenge of Laslo Djere 7-6(3), 7-6(6).

The top seed, who reached the championship match on his Pune debut last year (l. to Simon), saved one set point at 5-6 (30/40) in the second set before closing out the match on his second match point. Anderson fired 20 aces en route to victory after two hours and eight minutes.

Anderson will face Jaume Munar in the quarter-finals. The seventh seed raced into the last eight after a tough opening set, beating Simone Bolelli 7-5, 6-0.

Ernests Gulbis booked his place in the quarter-finals after beating second seed Hyeon Chung 7-6(2), 6-2 in one hour and 38 minutes. The 2018 Intrum Stockholm Open runner-up landed eight aces and converted five of eight break points to overcome Chung, who was contesting his first match of the 2019 ATP Tour season.

Gulbis will meet Ivo Karlovic for a spot in the semi-finals. The 39-year-old Croatian won 86 per cent of service points to overpower Evgeny Donskoy 6-4, 7-5.

Fifth seed Benoit Paire moved one win away from his fourth straight Tata Open Maharashtra semi-final with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jiri Vesely. The 29-year-old Frenchman dropped just two points behind his first serve (20/22) throughout the 71-minute contest. Paire will meet defending champion Gilles Simon in the quarter-finals.

Simon, who lifted the trophy on his tournament debut last year, recovered from a set down to beat Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-1. The Frenchman saved all six break points he faced to improve to 6-0 in Pune.

Malek Jaziri defeated Indian wild card Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-7(6), 7-6(5), 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals. The fourth seed recovered from a set down and a 0/3 deficit in the second-set tie-break to advance after two hours and 46 minutes. Jaziri will meet Steve Darcis in the last eight. Darcis also came from behind, beating Michael Mmoh 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.

Bambridge/O’Mara Reach Semi-finals
Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara captured a tight opening set before racing to a 7-6(5), 6-1 win over N. Sriram Balaji and Arjun Kadhe. The British duo needed just 68 minutes to reach the semi-finals, winning 67 per cent of service points (43/64) en route to victory.

Bambridge and O’Mara, who captured titles in Eastbourne and Stockholm in 2018, will meet Gerard Granollers and Marcel Granollers for a place in the championship match. The Spanish pairing beat Denys Molchanov and Igor Zelenay 6-4, 6-7(3), 10-6 in 87 minutes.

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.