Andy Murray eases into Dubai quarters with Joao Sousa win

Sousa, who has failed to take a single set in five matches against Murray, made 38 unforced errors during the tie that lasted just 57 minutes.

The Brit, who rose above Rafael Nadal to number three in the world earlier this week, took the opening set in just 21 minutes before breaking Sousa in the first game of the second set.

Sousa failed to recover from there as Murray wrapped up the victory.

"Today I thought I just picked the right shots and played the right way when he was struggling," said Murray.

"I didn't give him any free points. I didn't make sort of needless errors. He was getting more frustrated because he couldn't get any free points and then was going for more and more shots and obviously making more errors because of it."

The Brit will face Borna Coric in the next round.

"He's (Coric) obviously one of the young guys who's going to continue to get better every week with experience," added Murray.

"He's going to be making improvements in his game and realising the things he needs to work on if he wants to get to the top of the game. He'll be a tough opponent. He's had some good wins already against top players."

World number one Novak Djokovic did not face a single break point as he progressed with a 6-1 6-2 win over Andrey Golubev, while fourth seed Tomas Berdych defeated Simone Bolelli 7-6(7) 5-7 6-0.

In Wednesday's late match, Roger Federer recovered from a 4-1 first set deficit to beat Fernando Verdasco 6-4 6-3.

The Swiss second seed will face Richard Gasquet in the last eight.