World No.116 Evgney Donskoy has claimed the biggest scalp of his career, coming from a set down to shock Australian Open champion Roger Federer in Dubai.

Donskoy shocked the 18-time grand slam champion with a 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-5) victory in just over two hours.

Federer even had three match points in the second set tiebreaker but couldn’t close out the match.

The result scuppered hopes of a semi-final showdown and first meeting since 2015 between Federer and current world No.1 Andy Murray.

Murray was impressive earlier in the day as he bullied journeyman Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and claimed a 6-2 6-0 second round win in Dubai.

The Spaniard had won their last meeting in Indian Wells five years ago but there was no sniff of an upset here as Murray set up a quarter-final clash with Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber and left a rejuvenated Murray a happy man.

“When I got the early break, pretty much, it was almost 30 minutes in and we’d only played four games,” Murray said.

“Mentally, that was important for me, you know, to be up at that stage. I loosened up a bit after that and played really well.”

Murray, who only dropped one point on serve in the second set expects a tough test from Kohlschreiber.

“Every time we have played, we have had a lot of close matches,” Murray said.

“He’s a talented guy. He uses the angles of the court well. He plays with a lot of spin.”

While it was smooth sailing for Murray it wasn’t the case for fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, who was bounced 3-6 6-3 6-4 by Dutchman Robin Haase.

Fernando Verdasco won an all Spanish affair with a 6-4 3-6 7-5 upset of sixth seed Roberto Bautista Agut and will play Gael Monfils in the quarters after Monfils overcame a spirited challenge from rising Brit Daniel Evans 6-4 3-6 6-1.

Marseille finalist Lucas Pouille is also into the quarters where he will play Donskoy.