Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz remain on course to meet in the Qatar Open final after both recorded back-to-back victories on Wednesday.
World number two Sinner defeated Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-3 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals in Doha, before Alcaraz won 6-2 7-5 against Frenchman Valentin Royer.
The pair met in six finals last year, three of them at Grand Slams, with world number one Alcaraz winning the French and US Opens.
The 22-year-old Spaniard will next face Karen Khachanov, who defeated Marton Fucsovics 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
Sixth seed Jakub Mensik eased past Zhang Zhizhen 6-3 6-2 to set up a last-eight meeting with Sinner, who has now reached at least the quarter-finals in 28 of his past 30 tournaments dating back to the 2023 ATP Finals in Turin.
The 24-year-old Italian, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles last year, has now won 22 of his past 23 matches. His only defeat came against Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open last month.
Meanwhile, Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas upset world number 11 Daniil Medvedev 6-3 6-4 in Doha and set up a clash with fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who defeated Fabian Marozsan 6-2 6-4.
Unseeded Frenchman Arthur Fils and Czech Jiri Lehecka, seeded eighth, complete the quarter-finals after also scoring comfortable wins.
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