Andy Murray demolishes Joao Sousa to reach Dubai Tennis Championship quarter-finals

Andy Murray eased into the Dubai Tennis Championship quarter-finals with a straight sets win over Joao Sousa, losing just two games during the match.

The Portugal player was no challenge for Murray, who recorded a 6-0 6-2 win, and struggled to find answers to his opponent's excellent court craft and strong defence. The pair met at the Australian Open just last month, where Murray also eased to a straight sets victory. 

It took just 21 minutes for Murray to close out the first set 6-0, winning 80 per cent of his first serve points, smashing four aces and punishing Sousa's serve with excellent returns.

Live ATP Tennis

The second set continued in much of the same fashion with Murray breaking Sousa's serve and holding confidently. The 50th-ranked player finally got a game on the board in the third of the second set to save himself the embarrassment of a double bagel match. 

That small win appeared to give Sousa such much-needed confidence as he then managed to hold serve again by playing a less attacking brand of tennis.

But that didn't last long as Murray set himself up for another break of serve with an excellent passing shot. The British No 1 was soon serving for the match, which he did in style, dropping just a point.

Murray will play Croatia's Borna Coric next. Coric's second round match with Marcos Baghdatis went to a tie-break in the third set but the Cyrpiot was forced to withdraw with cramp with the score at 4-4. 

Coric, 18, is one of the game's rising stars. He was named ATP Star of Tomorrow last November, and although he is currently ranked 84 in the world, he is being widely tipped as a future top 10 player.

You can watch Novak Djokovicv Andrey Golubev and Fernando Verdasco v Roger Federer from 3pm live on Sky Sports 3 on Wednesday.