Federer and Nadal stay on course for Doha final

Doha: World number one Roger Federer made light of the chilly conditions to ease into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Russian Evgeny Korolev on Wednesday.

“I was hitting the ball hard because the weather was quite chilly. Evgeny is a promising player, so I didn’t want to take chances,” said Federer. World number two Rafael Nadal also breezed into the last eight with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italian Potito Starace. “I’ve been playing well lately. Today’s victory underlines that I’m in very good form,” said the Spaniard. “Potito has always been a tough opponent for me.” Federer next faces Latvian Ernests Gulbis while Nadal will face Belgian Steve Darcis. Third seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko breezed past Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-4 and will now take on big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic, the seventh seed. Bureau Report