Novak Djokovic kicked off his 2016 campaign with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Dustin Brown in round one of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Monday. Djokovic earned five service breaks in eight return games to cruise in a mere 51 minutes.
“It’s been six weeks since I played the last match, so I was very excited to go back to the court and compete and see how I go,” said the No. 1 seed, who capped off his dominant 2015 season with a title at the World Tour Finals. “Obviously you never know how you’re going to start from the blocks. You can do your best to prepare yourself well, which I did. I think I used the offseason very well to train to get my body in the right shape, and I think it was a very good start.”
This Doha event marked the only time throughout all of last year that the top-ranked Serb failed to reach a final. He lost to Ivo Karlovic in the quarters, as David Ferrer ultimately captured the title.
Ferrer is back in an attempt to lift the winner’s trophy once again. The 33-year-old Spaniard is coming off an impressive and underrated 2015 campaign. He booked a spot in the World Tour Finals despite missing two months–including Wimbledon and the entire American hard-court swing prior to the U.S. Open–because of an elbow injury. Ferrer, ranked seventh and seeded fourth, played last week in Abu Dhabi, double-breadsticking Jo-Wilfried Tsonga before falling to Nadal in three sets.
Up first for Ferrer on Tuesday is Illya Marchenko, whom he has never faced. This is a somewhat rare ATP-level, main-draw appearance for Marchenko, who registers at 94th in the rankings and spent most of his time on the Challenger circuit last season. A second-round performance at the U.S. Open as a qualifier followed by consistent success in Challengers helped the Ukrainian storm into the top 100.
Tuesday action will also feature none other than Rafael Nadal, who is set for a date with fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. The two friends and occasional doubles partners will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers. They previously faced each other last season on the clay courts of Rio de Janeiro, where Nadal prevailed 7-5, 6-3.
The No. 2 seed’s preparation for this debut match has been solid. Last week in a six-man Abu Dhabi exhibition event, Nadal captured the title with defeats of David Ferrer and Milos Raonic. He also got a match under his belt in Doha on Monday, losing in doubles with Fernando Verdasco 6-7(4), 6-4, 11-9 to Teymuraz Gabashvili and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Carreno Busta is coming off a solid but unspectacular 2015 campaign. He won 14 ATP-level matches, reached three Challenger finals (two titles), and finished at 67th in the world.
Topics: 10sballs.com, David Ferrer, Doha, Dustin Brown, ExxonMobil Open, Men's tennis, Novak Djokovic, Qatar open, Rafael Nadal, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis News