Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after winning his Qatar Open men's singles tennis match against Fernando Verdasco of Spain in Doha, Qatar January 6, 2016. Reuters/Naseem Zeitoon

Novak Djokovic continues to display his dominance at the start of the season after advancing into the quarterfinals of the 2016 Qatar Exxonmobil Open in Doha.

Djokovic defeated Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-2 to set up a QF match against Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer. It was a swift victory for the world No. 1, who only needed 69 minutes to dispatch Verdasco in a bid to capture the 60th tour-level title this week.

“I’m very pleased with the way I have started this season, with two matches in straight sets,” Djokovic told ATP’s official website. “Tonight was tougher than the first round. Verdasco is a former Top-10 player, somebody that has a lot of weapons in his game and who can create a lot of power from the forehand side.”

World No. 35 Mayer also cruised into the quarterfinal round after defeating his last two opponents in straight sets. Mayer is the obvious underdog against Djokovic, but the right-handed Argentine could use his momentum to give “Djoker” a tough battle.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal, who also competes at the 2016 Qatar Open, finished off Dutch Robin Haase 6-3 6-2 to make it to the quarterfinal round. The “King of Clay” is poised for a better start this season after struggling in 2015, when he did not won any major title for the first time in his career.

"(I am) just very happy to be through, I think I played a very strong match," Nadal said, reports Yahoo Sports. "I think I returned so well tonight. And the serve was a little bit worse than yesterday, but in general, I played much better than yesterday, no?”

After struggling to find his rhythm against compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta, Nadal finally came through against Haase. The 14-time Grand Slam winner will next face Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov, who defeated Richard Berankis 7-6(6) 6-1.

Live streaming info and live score updates

Catch all the action of the 2016 Qatar Open Exxonmobil live via TennisTV. Live score updates will be available on ATP’s official website.

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