Lucas Pouille found his fitness to gain sweet revenge against the man who beat him in the Marseille final on Sunday, Karen Khachanov.
Pouille overcame the Russian 6-4 3-6 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and avenge his defeat in style.
“In the Marseille final, he won just three points more than me ,” said Pouille, the highest seed remaining in Dubai after Grigor Dimitrov’s shock loss to Tunisian wildcard Malek Jaziri on Tuesday. “I knew it was very close. I had to play some good tennis.
“We were both I think a little bit tired. I’m just very happy that I got my revenge today.”
Pouille, who also won the Montpellier title this month, is pleased with his current form as he set up a first career meeting with Yuichi Sugita, who beat Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.
He said: “As long as you win, you get some confidence. I prefer to win a lot of matches, play a lot. I’m very happy with this month of February so far.”
Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, seeded third, also reached the quarter-final after a 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert in windy conditions. He next faces Borna Coric, who eased past Benoit Paire 6-1 6-4.
“I had to fight so hard, it was tough to feel good on the court today,” said world No 23 Bautista Agut. “We had a lot of wind, it was not easy to play.”
Greek wildcard Stefanos Tsitsipas dumped out sixth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6 6-3 6-4 and he will take on fellow wildcard Malek Jaziri after the Tunisian followed up his shock first-round victory over top seed Grigor Dimitrov with another impressive win, a 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3) triumph against Robin Haase.
