Seventh seed Nick Kyrgios surged into the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday as he dismissed Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 6-2.

The Australian, whose mother is Malaysian, wrapped up victory in 55 minutes, firing 12 aces and winning 75 per cent of his service points. The 20-year-old Canberra native is through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final since April, when he went on to reach his first final in Estoril (l. to Gasquet).

“I feel good,” said Kyrgios. “I came out pretty strong in this match. In his first service game I made every return and got the break, so I was comfortable from the get-go and thought I played well today.”

Kyrgios goes on to challenge third seed Ivo Karlovic, who struck 18 aces as he battled past Nikoloz Basilashvili in one hour and 47 minutes. The Croat is inching ever closer to overtaking Goran Ivanisevic’s record ATP World Tour aces tally of 10,237. Karlovic currently trails his countryman by 48 aces.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Kyrgios, looking ahead to the Karlovic clash. “Whenever you play Ivo it’s going to be tough. His serve is the best in the game. I know what I’ve got to do to look after my serve and I know I’m going to have a chance somewhere, so I’ve got to be ready.”

Benjamin Becker is through to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season after upsetting sixth seed Jeremy Chardy 5-7, 6-1, 7-5.

The German claimed his 10^th tour-level win of the season as he prevailed in two hours and six minutes, withstanding 13 aces and breaking his French opponent four times. The 34-year-old Becker is through to the quarter-finals at this ATP World Tour 250 hard-court tournament for the second year in a row (l. to Gulbis in 2014).

“It was a good level,” said Becker. “We had a great end to the first set. He played well to break me. I couldn’t have done anything better, so I just tried to hang in there and had a good start to the second set. The third set was a toss-up. I won the important points, broke him at 5-5 and was able to serve it out.” 

Last week’s St. Petersburg Open runner-up Joao Sousa could be Becker’s quarter-final opponent. Three days after losing to Milos Raonic in the final in Russia, the Portuguese rebounded to beat qualifier Michal Przysiezny 6-2, 6-2 in just over one hour. In the second round, Sousa will face fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov, who is playing his first match since a surprise second-round exit to Mikhail Kukushkin at the US Open.

“It was a tough first round after a long trip. So I’m really happy with this victory today and the way I played,” said Sousa. “Mentally and physically I felt very good, so I’m really happy to be in the second round.”

Qualifier Mischa Zverev set a second-round contest with second seed Feliciano Lopez after battling past Rajeev Ram 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 49 minutes.