Lucas Pouille overcame Karen Khachanov 6-4 3-6 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai duty free tennis championships and avenge his defeat by the Russian in last weekend's final in Marseille.

Second seed Pouille served seven aces and converted three break points to prevail in an hour and 39 minutes. Up next for the Frenchman is a first career meeting with Yuichi Sugita, who beat Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 6-4.

Pouille, the highest seed remaining in Dubai after Grigor Dimitrov's shock loss to Tunisian wildcard Malek Jaziri on Tuesday, broke world number 41 Khachanov in the ninth game before cruising to a one-set lead.

Khachanov hit back in the next set to drag the contest into a decider, before Pouille saved two break points in the third set and upped his game to advance.