Doha: Novak and Rafa anchor the 2016 draw

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As Rafael Nadal lifted his first trophy of 2016 in the Abu Dhabi exhibition – scoring a 7-6(2), 6-3 win over Milos Raonic – across the Persian Gulf, the St. Regis Doha hosted the draw ceremony for the Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2016. Sergiy Stakhovsky, Pablo Andujar and wild-card Marsel Ilhan joined us for the evening. Sergiy drew Andujar’s Round-1 opponent, Paolo Lorenzi. Two pulls later, Stako was informed he would face last year’s finalist Tomas Berdych in the first round. Tough start to the year.

Qualifying continues tomorrow at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, with main-draw play starting Monday at 3:30p. The top-seeds again here in Doha, Novak Djokovic drew a qualifier for his first round match while 2013 Champion Rafael Nadal drew countryman Pablo Carreno Busta. Returning Champion David Ferrer fell in the middle of Rafa’s half, and will face Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko in Round-1. While Berdych drew Stakhovsky, the remaining seeds Feliciano Lopez drew Daniel Munoz de la Nava, Andreas Seppi drew Ricardis Berankis, Jeremy Chardy drew wild-card Mubarek Shannan Zayid and Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer drew a qualifier.

And so the 2016 ATP World Tour season begins…

[lightbox link=”http://andytayloronline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/QEMO16-Draw2.png” thumb=”http://andytayloronline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/QEMO16-Draw2-940×568.png” width=”940″ align=”center” title=”Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2016 – The Draw” frame=”true” icon=”image” caption=””]

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MUBADALA WORLD TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS:

Thursday:

  • David Ferrer def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 6-1 (Tsonga retires from exhibition with a wrist injury)
  • Milos Raonic def. Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-4

Friday:

  • Feliciano Lopez (replacing Tsonga) def. Kevin Anderson 7-6, 7-6
  • Rafael Nadal def. David Ferrer 6-3, 6-7, 6-3
  • Milos Raonic def. Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 7-5

Saturday:

  • David Ferrer def. Stan Wawrinka 6-7, 6-4, 10-8 (wow)
  • Rafael Nadal def. Milos Raonic 7-6, 6-3

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