DOHA, (Reuters) – World number one Roger Federer made  light of the chilly conditions to ease into the quarter-finals  of the Qatar Open with a 6-2 6-4 win over Russian Evgeny Korolev  yesterday.

“I was hitting the ball hard because the weather was quite  chilly. Evgeny is a promising player, so I didn’t want to take  chances,” said Federer.

World number two Rafael Nadal also breezed into the last  eight with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Italian Potito Starace.

“I’ve been playing well lately. Today’s victory underlines  that I’m in very good form,” said the Spaniard. “Potito has  always been a tough opponent for me.”

Federer next faces Latvian Ernests Gulbis while Nadal will  face Belgian Steve Darcis.

Third seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko breezed past  Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli 6-3 6-4 and will now take on  big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic, the seventh seed.