Agencies
Novak Djokovic kept his hopes of winning a 100th career ATP title alive with a straightforward 6-3 6-3 win against Gael Monfils in the Brisbane International last 16.
The Serb, 37, will face Reilly Opelka in the last eight after the American’s 7-6 (11-9) 7-6 (7-4) victory against Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi.
Djokovic took his only break point opportunity in the first set, helping him to race into a 4-1 lead and to take the set within 36 minutes.
Monfils, 38, missed a simple forehand on serve at 1-1 and the Frenchman failed to take a point in the remainder of the game as Djokovic broke early in the second set.
Djokovic held serve three times from there and broke Monfils again at 5-3 to wrap up his 20th career win against the Frenchman.
Opelka awaits Djokovic in the quarter-finals, when the pair will play each other for the first time.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner says he will have to tailor his game to face the big-serving American, who hit 25 aces against Arnaldi.
“Opelka has been injured and he struggled a lot for a couple of years,” said Djokovic.
“My gosh, I’m going to have to probably step back a few steps for that first serve.”
World number one Aryna Sabalenka will face Marie Bouzkova in the quarter-finals after breezing past Yulia Putintseva.
The Belarusian beat Putintseva 6-4 7-6 (7-2) as she aims to win her 18th career title in Australia.
The 26-year-old will face world number 44 Bouzkova, who beat former world number one Victoria Azarenka, 6-4 6-4 earlier in the day.
Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina beat China’s Yue Yuan 6-1 6-4 to set-up a last-eight match against Australia’s Kimberly Birrell, while world number 64 Ashlyn Krueger will take on Russia’s Polina Kudermetova.
Elsewhere, Russia’s Andrey Rublev was beaten 5-7 6-3 3-6 by Fabian Marozsan in the last-16 of the Hong Kong Open.
