In a wild start to the 2014 season, five of the remaining top-7 seeds in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open were taken-out today. Andy Murray was beaten for the first time by Germany’s Florian Mayer, two-time finalist Gael Monfils dispatched defending champion Richard Gasquet, Germany’s Daniel Brands overpowered the #2-seed David Ferrer, Philipp Kohlschreiber fell to fellow German Peter Gojowczyk, and Fernando Verdasco was defeated by Romanian Victor Hanescu.
All four quarterfinal matches will be played on center court in Doha tomorrow starting at 3:30 local time: Two German qualifiers square-off in the first match with Dustin Brown vs. Peter Gojowczyk. Then Victor Hanescu and Florian Mayer battle for a spot in the semifinals. The only seeds left in the draw, world #1 Rafael Nadal and the #7-seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia play the third match, followed by Gael Monfils of France vs. Germany’s Daniel Brands.
Doubles semifinal matches tomorrow on Court 1 will feature defending champions Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Tomas Berdych and Jan Hajek. Then the #1-seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares will battle the #3-seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo for a spot in the doubles final. Rafa played doubles with Coach Roig after his late, three-set win over Tobias Kamke this evening, but fell to Dodig and Melo. Andy Murray and partner Nenad Zimonjic also fell in the doubles competition, losing to Peya and Soares.
SCORES – Singles Round of 16
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d T Kamke (GER) 63 67(3) 63
D Brands (GER) d [2] D Ferrer (ESP) 64 75
F Mayer (GER) d [3] A Murray (GBR) 36 64 62
G Monfils (FRA) d [5] R Gasquet (FRA) 62 75
[Q] P Gojowczyk (GER) d [6] P Kohlschreiber (GER) 76(4) 76(7)
[7] E Gulbis (LAT) d L Kubot (POL) 62 46 63
V Hanescu (ROU) d [8] F Verdasco (ESP) 46 76(0) 62
[Q] D Brown (GER) d I Karlovic (CRO) 36 76(13) 64
SCORES – Doubles Quarterfinals
[1] A Peya (AUT) / B Soares (BRA) d A Murray (GBR) / N Zimonjic (SRB) 76(5) 64
[3] I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) d [WC] R Nadal (ESP) / F Roig (ESP) 64 76(1)
C Kas (GER) / P Kohlschreiber (GER) d [4] T Huey (PHI) / D Inglot (GBR) 76(2) 75
T Berdych (CZE) / J Hajek (CZE) d O Marach (AUT) / F Mergea (ROU) 26 63 10-4
