Roger Federer continued his pursuit of a second Shanghai Rolex Masters title with a straightforward 6-4, 6-2 win on Thursday evening against the lone qualifier to advance to the third round, Alexandr Dolgopolov.

The Swiss was never significantly challenged in the match, facing just one break point, as he served for the first set. But when the Ukrainian made an error down break point at 2-2 in the second set, the finish line came into sight, and Federer then broke again in a 19-point game at 4-2 to allow him to serve for the match, which he did without a hitch.

Federer advances to his fourth quarter-final in six appearances in Shanghai. Each time he has made it that far at the event, he has continued to at least the semi-finals.

The No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, who has already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, is seeking his sixth title of the season, which would tie Rafael Nadal for the ATP World Tour lead.

The 36 year old will next play Richard Gasquet, against whom he has a 15-2 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head. Federer has not lost to the Frenchman since 2011 in Rome, with the other defeat coming in 2005 (Monte Carlo).

Gasquet advanced to the quarter-final with a back-and-forth 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory over compatriot Gilles Simon in two hours and 40 minutes.

It appeared that the 31 year old would quickly extend his FedEx ATP Head2Head over Simon to 7-0 when he broke to lead 3-1 in the second set, but his 32-year-old opponent fought back to force a decider. While Simon broke immediately in the third set to gain the advantage, Gasquet then broke twice in a row and held on to earn a spot in his first Shanghai quarter-final.

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Fourth seeds Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray, the next team in line to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November, advanced to the Shanghai Rolex Masters quarter-finals on Thursday by beating Kevin Anderson and Nenad Zimonjic 7-5, 6-2 in 75 minutes. Murray and Soares, currently No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Race To London, will now face sixth seeds and fellow contenders Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau booked their tickets to London next month for the season finale, which they won in 2015, as a result of defeating Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 in 72 minutes. They now meet seventh seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic or wild cards Di Wu and Yibing Wu.

Fifth seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers, currently No. 9 in the battle for a spot in the English capital, edged into the last eight by virtue of beating Marcin Matkowski and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-7 in one hour and 43 minutes. They will next challenge top seeds and Nitto ATP Finals qualifiers Henri Kontinen and John Peers on Friday at the Qi Zhong Stadium in Shanghai.

Santiago Gonzalez and Julio Peralta, runners up at last week’s Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 (l. to Mclachlan/Uchiyama), knocked out eighth seeds and this year’s Roland Garros champions Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus 6-4, 7-6(5) in 79 minutes. They await the winners of Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez versus Nitto ATP Finals qualifiers and second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo in the Shanghai quarter-finals.

Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov further strengthened his bid for a place at the Nitto ATP Finals on Thursday by reaching the Shanghai Rolex Masters quarter-finals at the expense of American Sam Querrey, another contender for next month’s season finale.

Sixth seed Dimitrov recorded his 40th match win of a career-best year (40-16 overall) with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over No. 10 seed Querrey in 81 minutes at the Qi Zhong Stadium in Shanghai. He will next challenge top seed and 2009 finalist Rafael Nadal or Fabio Fognini of Italy in Friday’s quarter-finals.

Dimitrov is currently at No. 5 in the Emirates ATP Race To London with 3,455 points, and is now 270 points behind fourth-placed Austrian Dominic Thiem (3,725). Querrey remains at No. 11 with 2,525 points. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev have already clinched three of the eight berths at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.

The 26-year-old Dimitrov broke Querrey in the fourth game of the pair’s third FedEx ATP Head2Head series (3-0), but could not convert three set point opportunities on the American’s serve at 5-3. Querrey took a 2-0 lead in the second set, but was immediately pinned back and there were no further chances to break through to the tie-break.

Dimitrov has won three ATP World Tour titles in 2017 at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp (d. Nishikori), Garanti Koza Sofia Open (d. Goffin) and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati (d. Kyrgios).

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The Top 4 seeds headline third round action at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday with  Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Alexander Zverev and Marin Cilic leading the way.

In the opening match on Stadium, No. 10 seed Sam Querrey takes on No. 6 seed Grigor Dimitrov, who has won both previous meetings. If Querrey reaches his first Shanghai quarter-final, he will move past Pablo Carreno Busta for the final position in the Emirates ATP Race to London. 

View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup for Day 5 of the Shanghai Rolex Masters and vote for who you think will win!
Zverev vs del Potro | Dimitrov vs Querrey | Nadal vs Fognini | Federer vs Dolgopolov

In the next match on, No. 16 seed and 2013 finalist Juan Martin del Potro meets Zverev for the first time. Last week the 20-year-old German became the third player to clinch a spot in the Nitto ATP Finals in London. The 29-year-old Argentine is 3-9 vs. Top 10 opponents this season. Next up is Cilic against Steve Johnson, who is one of three Americans remaining (Isner, Querrey) in the third round for the first time in tournament history (since 2009). Cilic is 3-0 against Johnson.

In the evening session, Nadal comes in with a 13-match winning streak and looks for his 10th win over Fabio Fognini. Nadal, who reached the Shanghai final in 2009, is 9-3 lifetime against the Italian, winning the last four meetings. In the final match, Federer looks to remain unbeaten (4-0) against qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov, who has never won a set (0-9) against the Swiss. 

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