The quarter-finals at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Friday are led by the top two players in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. They have combined to win five of the previous seven tournament titles with Murray winning in 2010-11 and Djokovic in 2012-13, 2015.

In the opening match on Stadium, No. 16 seed Roberto Bautista Agut and No. 9 seed/last year’s finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga meet for the fifth time (tied 2-2). Tsonga won both of last year’s meetings and Bautista Agut has claimed both of this year’s contests, from a set down in the Auckland semi-finals (saving match point) and in the 3R at ATP Masters 1000 Miami (in a third set tie-break). The Spaniard is appearing in his second career ATP Masters 1000 QF, the first since 2014 Madrid where he reached the SFs. Tsonga, who is making his fifth QF showing in Shanghai, is trying to reach his first SF since ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo in April.

In the next match on, Djokovic takes on qualifier Mischa Zverev for the second time. Djokovic won the previous encounter 63 63 in the QFs at 2009 Marseille. The World No. 1 is attempting to reach his seventh SF here in as many attempts. He has a 20-1 record in Shanghai since 2012 with his lone loss to Federer in the semi-finals two years ago. Djokovic is also eyeing his 30th ATP Masters 1000 match win of the season (29-2). The 29-year-old Serb leads the ATP World Tour with seven titles this year, including four coming at ATP Masters 1000 events. Zverev is making his second career QF showing in an ATP Masters 1000 tournament (2009 Rome). He is the first qualifier to advance to the quarter-finals in Shanghai since Matthew Ebden in 2011. Next Monday, the 29-year-old German will return to the Top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time since June 6, 2011. He will jump from No. 110 to around No. 72. Zverev is facing a World No. 1 for the first time in his career. He is 4-10 against Top 10 opponents and his last win came over No. 6 Davydenko in the 2R of 2010 Shanghai.

In the evening session, unseeded Jack Sock and Gilles Simon square off for the third time (tied 1-1). Their previous meetings came last year with Simon winning in three sets in the 1R at ATP Masters 1000 Rome and Sock coming back to win 75 76 in the QFs in Stockholm. Sock, who is also left in the doubles semi-finals (w/Isner), is appearing in his first career ATP Masters 1000 singles QF. He saved two match points in his 3R win over No. 6-ranked Raonic. Simon, who reached the Shanghai final two years ago, is coming off his first Top 3 win since 2008 after defeating No. 3 Wawrinka on Thursday. He is trying to reach his second SF of the year (Metz).

In the final match on, No. 11 seed David Goffin, who moved to No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race to London, takes on Murray for the fifth time. Murray is 4-0 in their head-to-head, winning all 10 sets. Goffin is trying to reach his third ATP Masters 1000 SF of the season (Indian Wells, Miami) and post his second straight Top 10 win. Murray leads the ATP World Tour with 62 match wins and is second with five titles this season.

In doubles, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares will pass Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, the No. 1 team in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race to London, by winning their quarter-final match. They take on unseeded Kontinen/Peers. A win in the quarter-finals will also make Soares the 50th World No. 1 in the 40-year history of the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings. Soares would pass current No. 1 Mahut. Marcelo Melo is the other Brazilian to rank No. 1 in doubles. He held the top spot for 24 weeks, first accomplished on Nov. 2, 2015.

Denis Istomin and Farukh Dustov are the only players from Uzbekistan to reach the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, but this week’s $125,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Tashkent has revealed a new face that could become the next Uzbek player to accomplish the feat.

Sanjar Fayziev made the most of the main draw wild card given to him by reaching his first Challenger quarterfinal in his hometown. The 22 year old, ranked No. 521 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, scored his biggest career win in the opening round by defeating fourth seed and World No. 95 Evgeny Donskoy of Russia in a third-set tie-break. He then backed up that victory with another three-set win over Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan.

Although he lost in the quarter-finals on Thursday to fifth seed Konstantin Kravchuk of Russia, Fayziev said he was pleased with the progress he made this week.

“It’s been a mixed year because I’ve been hampered by chronic throat and heart issues that kept me out, but now my fitness is fine and I’m fighting again,” said Fayziev. “I’m really pleased about the journey this week.”

Fayziev said he credited his Tashkent success with playing his first Davis Cup tie for Uzbekistan last month in his home city. Although he lost to Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland, he said the occasion showed him “how to be emotionally calm and stable and that’s helped me to close out matches here.”

He’s one of several players from Uzbekistan under the age of 22 who are currently making inroads up the Emirates ATP Rankings, including Temur Ismailov and Khumuon Sultanov. They all practice together regularly and find themselves at many of the same ITF Futures and Challenger events throughout Central Asia.

“We have a good friendship and training sessions between us, as well as good guidance from our mentors,” said Fayziev. “Obviously this helps all of us and the support and faith we get from our federation also motivates us to work harder.”

Fayziev’s inspired run in Tashkent will bring him up nearly 100 places in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday. Although he will compete in ITF Futures events for the remainder of 2016, this week has shown he can become a regular on the ATP Challenger Tour.

“Challengers are difficult because the returns are faster, the serves are harder and players have more experience, but it’s a good opportunity for me,” said Fayziev. “The wins this week make me more confident that I belong here.”

Hello from Shanghai where Jamie Murray and I are into the quarterfinals! It’s a very big tournament, a tournament that I really enjoy, so I want to stay till the end.

It’s been an amazing year. It’s the first season me and Jamie are playing together. When we got together at the end of last year, both of us were close to winning Slams before, but we didn’t have one. Of course, once you partner with someone, there’s this belief that you’re going to do well. But to bring that into the court was a completely different thing.

We played each other so many times before so we knew how to work with each other’s game and success came really fast. In our first three tournaments, we won Sydney, and then went on to win Melbourne, our first Slam. And now, for us to win the US Open, too, it’s more than we asked for. It’s been amazing. It’s been really nice to play with Jamie. He was a good friend before, and now he became a good friend and my partner, so we’ve been having a lot of success but also a lot of fun on- and off-court.

People say a doubles team is like a marriage and in my case, that’s 100% true. For me, I feel the off-court is as important as the on-court. You wake up, you do practice, you’re tired, you’re jet-lagged and then you play. You win, you lose, you’ve got to deal with so many emotions and you’ve got to be able to do that with your partner. For me, it’s exactly like a marriage. It’s important to have a connection.

Read the rest of Bruno’s blog on the Shanghai Rolex Masters website

Two-time former champion Andy Murray was solid on first serve at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday when he booked a place in the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 13 seed Lucas Pouille.

Murray will next challenge sixth seed Gael Monfils or No. 11 seed David Goffin, who are both attempting to clinch a spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 13-20 November, for the first time.

Murray capitalised on Pouille’s inexperience, moving towards the net to finish points when the Frenchman floated back sliced backhands. The Scot won the first five games, broke in the first game of the second set and won 95 per cent of his first service points. He converted his third match point opportunity for victory in 78 minutes.

Murray, who has picked up five titles this year – including at the China Open (d. Dimitrov) last week, has a 62-9 match record and is battling Novak Djokovic to finish year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.