Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2016: Tuesday Tennis Scores, Results and Updated Schedule
Rafael Nadal was forced to battle for his place in the next stage by Pablo Carreno Busta in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2016, but fought hard to earn a 6-7, 6-3, 6-1 victory, as David Ferrer and Andreas Seppi surprisingly crashed out in the first round on Tuesday.
Nadal's countryman hurt the legend in the first set as he stole the tie break, but the No. 2 seed powered through, displaying his most sumptuous tennis in the third.
Reigning champion Ferrer was shocked by world No. 94 Illya Marchenko, as the Ukrainian dumped the No. 4 seed out of the competition. The Spaniard had fought back in the first to win a tie break, but was soundly beaten in the following two sets 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.
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Seppi followed Ferrer out of the tournament, as the No. 6 seed was toppled 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 by Lithuanian outsider Ricardas Berankis.
Tomas Berdych edged past Sergiy Stakhovsky to book his place in the second round of the Qatar Open, defeating the Ukrainian 7-5, 6-4 to open his tournament with relative ease. Leonardo Mayer cruised through in his encounter with qualifier Benjamin Becker, defeating the German 6-1, 6-2 in a comprehensive display.
Read on for a full breakdown of Tuesday's scores from Doha, where the action continues to heat up as the second-round lineup nears completion.
| Tomas Berdych | 7-5, 6-4 | Sergiy Stakhovsky |
| Pablo Andujar | 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 | Paolo Lorenzi |
| Teymuraz Gabashvili | 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 | Simone Bolelli |
| Paul-Henri Mathieu | 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 | Albert Ramos-Vinolas |
| Illya Marchenko | 6-7. 6-3, 6-2 | David Ferrer |
| Leonardo Mayer | 6-1, 6-2 | Benjamin Becker |
| Ricardas Barankis | 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 | Andreas Seppi |
| Rafael Nadal | 6-7, 6-3, 6-1 | Pablo Carrena Busta |
| Fernando Verdasco | 7-6, 7-6 | Malek Jaziri |
Nadal And Berdych Prevail
Nadal was at risk of crashing out of the first round on Tuesday, but stepped up a gear in the final set to show his world-class calibre against Carreno Busta.
The younger Spaniard took Nadal to task in the first set as both consistently held their serve, but the 24-year-old broke the veteran's service point on four occasions to win the tie break.
This prompted Nadal to pick up the pace, and despite tiring in the second—he displayed the gulf in class between the two individuals.
The icon twice broke his opponents serve in the second, and ripped through the third set to take the match 6-7, 6-3, 6-1.
Berdych might have been expected to make short work of Stakhovsky in his first outing of the competition, but his opponent proved to be no easy obstacle, despite the 56 places separating them in the ATP rankings.
Tennis TV highlighted the record that stood against Stakhovsky coming into Tuesday's clash, but he hoped to stage an upset and clinch a first career win over Berdych in Qatar:
Both players broke serve early on before shoring up their defence to hold on for the remainder of the opening set until Berdych came back magnificently from 40-0 down to break in the 12th game and steal a 1-0 lead.
The second set told a similar story, and break points were difficult to come by between two players serving strongly, with each of the games played out in five points or fewer. However, Berdych saved his best for the last game and made sure the only break of the set was his, capping a win tennis writer Chris Goldsmith called "comfortable":
The same couldn't be said for Pablo Andujar and Teymuraz Gabashvili, though, after they squeaked past Italian duo Paolo Lorenzi and Simone Bolelli, respectively, to reach the second round.
Goldsmith couldn't help but highlight how Andujar's first set was followed up by an unanswered second:
Despite that setback, the Spaniard responded well in the third to dust off a 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 win, and Gabashvili was even happier to hit back from a set down before celebrating a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Bolelli.
Gabashvili surrendered a 3-1 lead in the first set, where he lost five of the last six games, but the Russian contender made swift improvements to ensure sets two and three were a simpler task.
In fact, Bolelli appeared to lose what little fight he had left in the final set and was outclassed as he fell to Gabashvili in seven games.
Gabashvili will be pleased with his comeback victory, but the hard work is by no means done as he waits to see whether it will be countryman Ferrer or Illya Marchenko he faces in the next round of the contest.
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