Roger Federer produced a no-frills display against compatriot Marco Chiudinelli to reach the Qatar Open quarter-finals on Wednesday. After thrilling the crowd on Tuesday with one of his "between the legs" trick shots, the Swiss world number two laboured to a 7-6 7-5 victory in one hour 48 minutes.
Twice former champion Federer made little impression on his opponent's serve during a tight first set and trailed by a break in the second before recovering to clinch victory with a smash. Top seed Rafael Nadal is in action later against Slovakia's Lucas Lacko. Third seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga of France, making his comeback from injury, moved into the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4 defeat of Ukraine's Sergei Bubka.