With a new tennis season underway, nine matches of ATP World Tour action commenced on Monday in Doha, Qatar. Novak Djokovic—who was last year’s Qatar ExxonMobil Open champion—began his 2017 campaign as a second seed, but he was met with plenty of challenges en route to the second round. However, he was still able to win in straight sets, unlike Dustin Brown, Nicolas Almagro, Arthur De Greef, and Horacio Zeballos whose matches all went to deciding sets before they were victorious.
The Results
Jiri Vesely became the first player to advance to the second round after a clinical 6-2, 6-3 defeat of wildcard Anil Yuksel in just over an hour. Impressive serving powered the 23-year-old as he racked up 13 aces to go with three breaks in nine attempts.
The next player to advance was fan-favorite Brown. The player known for his style showed substance in 2016, and it carried over into the new season. After an hour and 45 minutes, he bested Facundo Bagnis in three sets, 6-1, 6(2)-7, 6-4.
With all eyes on the Djokovic, the world number two got off to a shaky start. His first service game of 2017 ended in a break at 30, and his second followed suit as the Serb was broken at love. His troubles came at the hands of Jan-Lennard Struff, who held a 5-1 lead early in the match. That lead was quickly diminished as Djokovic flipped the switch and began playing like a player who was number one in the world just a few months ago. He clawed back to 6-5 before Struff held to force a tiebreak. In that decider, Djokovic played some flawless tennis—needing just eight points to take the tiebreak, 7-1. That momentum carried into the second set, which the Serb also won. Two breaks were all he needed to close out the match as Djokovic defeated Struff, 7-6(1), 6-3.
The other two seeded players showcased today were David Goffin and Marcos Baghdatis; however, only one would join Djokovic in the next round. Eighth seed Baghdatis retired in his match against qualifier Radek Stepanek at an odd point in the match. The Cypriot was just one point from defeat—down 4-6, 3-5 on match point—when he retired. As for fourth seed Goffin, his victory over Robert Haase was a rather routine one, 7-6(4), 6-2.
Vasek Pospisil became the first bagel victim of the tournament—losing 7-5, 6-0 to Fernando Verdasco. The match began with the Canadian taking a 3-0 lead, but his Spanish opponent responded by rallying to get back on serve at 4-3. A break at 15 at 5-5 put the world number 42 in position to take the first set, which he did in an unchallenged hold at 30.
For the rest of day one’s winners, they needed three sets to advance. Almagro defeated Paolo Lorenzi, 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3; wildcard De Greef defeated qualifier Mohamed Safwat, 7-6(8), 5-7, 6-4; and Zeballos defeated Florian Mayer in a thrilling match, 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(9).
Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Philipp Kohlschreiber headline day two’s action as the rest of the first round will be decided.
