Carlos Alcaraz reached the quarter-finals at the Qatar Open with a straight-sets victory over Valentin Royer.
The world No 1, in his first tournament since completing the career Grand Slam at the Australian Open, clinched the first set 6-2 but had to weather a second-set fightback from his French opponent before progressing 7-5.
The victory saw Alcaraz extend his outdoor hard-court winning streak to 27 matches.
"I had to be prepared for everything," Alcaraz said on Your Site Tennis.
"There were some moments where a small part of my mind thought about a third set, but the rest was working to find solutions.
"I'm really pleased and happy to find good rhythm and tennis again."
Alcaraz progresses through to a 55th ATP Tour quarter-final and will play Russian Karen Khachanov, who overcame Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-2 4-6 6-4 in the second round.
"It's a great number," the 22-year-old added. "I'm not thinking of the number of quarter-finals, I think about the number of finals, that's my mindset and goal."
Second seed Jannik Sinner defeated Australia's Alexei Popyrin in straight sets to book his place in the quarter-finals.
The Italian made light work of his opponent, prevailing 6-3 7-5 in one hour and 25 minutes to set up a last-eight tie against Jakub Mensik of Czechia.
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