Sir Andy Murray reached the Qatar Open quarter-finals with a battling 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 win over Austrian Gerald Melzer.
World number 68 Melzer produced a gutsy display, saving eight first-set points before eventually succumbing to the world number one in the tie-break.
The Austrian broke as Murray served for the match at 5-4 but the Scot won the next two games and will next play world number 44 Nicolas Almagro of Spain.
Murray extended his career-best winning streak in competitive matches to 26.
He paid tribute to Melzer, saying: “He played great tennis and dominated large parts of the match. If he plays like this again this year he’ll move higher and higher up the rankings.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer was defeated by German teenager Alexander Zverev at the mixed teams Hopman Cup in Perth.
The Swiss 17-time Grand Slam winner lost 7-6 (7-1) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) in two hours and 30 minutes in a match of high quality.
The tournament in Australia is the 35 year old’s first after a six-month knee injury lay-off. (BBC Sports)