Third seed Daniel Evans extended his unbeaten start to the season on Wednesday, defeating Spaniard Pedro Martinez 6-2, 6-3 in the Sydney Tennis Classic quarterfinals.
The 31-year-old, who won three singles matches and two doubles rubbers for Great Britain at the ATP Cup last week, did not face a break point in his 85-minute win over the Spaniard.
Evans reached the final of the 2017 Australian Open in Sydney and will face either American Maxime Cressy or sixth seed Dusan Lajovic next.
Aslan Karatsev, the top seed, won for the first time in 2022, defeating Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 37 minutes.
After a fairytale run to the semi-finals at the Australian Open last year, the Russian has warm memories of the country. Karatsev improved to 2-0 in their ATPHead2Head series against Kecmanovic after winning 88 percent (28/32) of his first-serve points and rallying from a set down in the first.
The 28-year-old will face fifth seed Lorenzo Sonego, who beat a NextGenATP Argentine Sebastian Baez 6-2, 6-3 in 81 minutes to earn the title of 2021 ATP Most Improved Player of the Year.
Brandon Nakashima, a NextGenATP American, also progressed to the final eight after maintaining his outstanding tie-break record at the ATP 250 tournament.
In one hour and 59 minutes, the 20-year-old upset Fabio Fognini 7-6(7), 7-6(6) to claim his second tour-level victory over the Italian. In his first-round encounter against Jiri Vesely on Tuesday, the World No. 68 also won two tie-break sets.
Following the fourth seeds' 6-3, 6-2 victory over Australian wild card Jordan Thompson, Nakashima will face fellow countryman Reilly Opelka in the quarterfinals. In 79 minutes, the big-serving World No. 25 unleashed 10 aces to progress.