Barclays Dubai Championships gallery, Day 3

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 15:29

The French fans went home from the Barclays Dubai Championships with a smile on their face on Wednesday after three of their men booked places in the quarter-finals.

Third seed Gilles Simon, and unseeded duo Fabrice Santoro and Richard Gasquet all came through second round contests at the Aviation Club.

Simon enjoyed the easiest passage of the trio, winning 6-1, 6-2 against Teimuraz Gabashvili, while Gasquet and Santoro, the champion back in 2002, both needed third-set tie-breaks to advance.

The ever-popular Santoro sliced and diced his way past Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(1) while Gasquet, who put out Marat Safin in round one, squeezed past Italian Simone Bolelli 6-7, 6-3, 7-6(5).

Top seed Novak Djokovic survived a real scare in the evening session as he needed three sets to get past Czech player Jan Hernych, but things were much more straightforward for Andy Murray who crushed Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-3.

Fifth seed Marin Cilic was another big name forced to fight for his life, coming through a three-set dogfight against Julien Benneteau 7-5 in the decider.

Things were a little more comfortable for fourth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer though, who outclassed German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2.

Thursday order of play
Centre Court, quarter-finals
2pm Gilles Simon V Fabrice Santoro
Igor Andreev V David Ferrer
7pm Novak Djokovic V Marin Cilic
Andy Murray V Richard Gasquet

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