Wednesday 25 February 2015 22:34, UK
Top seed Novak Djokovic produced a masterful display as he swept aside Andrey Golubev in the second round of the Dubai Championship.
The Serb was short of his best in an opening round win over Vasek Pospisil, but produced a majestic exhibition of returning in his one-sided 6-1 6-2 rout of Golubev.
There were early warning signs for the Kazakh when he conceded his second service game, slicing a backhand into the net after Djokovic skilfully manoeuvred him around the court.
Golubev was struggling to contain the newly crowned Australian Open champion and conceded a second break with a wayward backhand after Djokovic cleverly dictated another rally.
Protecting his own serve with classy ground strokes, the top seed eased into a one set advantage and then broke Golubev with a sizzling backhand pass for a further break in the second set.
Golubev briefly stemmed the charge, holding stubbornly onto a service game, but could not prevent Djokovic from serving out the 61-minute victory to set up a quarter-final clash with qualifier Marsel Ilhan.
The Turkish player battled back from a set down to complete a shock 3-6 7-5 6-3 win over sixth seed Feliciano Lopez.
