“That winning feeling after long time,” tweeted Tomas Berdych with a smiley emoji after last night’s win in the first round of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open yesterday. The Czech had not played since last June after struggling with back injury, which put an end to his 2018 hopes.
Berdych had to rely on wild card to enter the $1.4mn ATP 250 event here in Doha. And the former World No 4, now fitter and fresher, made a good start to his new season as he overcame Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 7-6(5) at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash complex.
Berdych, ranked 71 now, was not at his fluent best but it was enough to get past Kohlschreiber, whom he had beaten on eight of 10 attempts coming into yesterday’s first round match.
Berdych will next play eighth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who beat lucky loser Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-3, 6-4. Verdasco, the 2017 semi-finalist in Qatar, relied on his strong service game as he struck nine aces in a routine victory on centre court.
Seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut, too, had little trouble on the day as the Spaniard avenged his loss to Italian Matteo Berrettini in last year’s Gstaad final with a 6-1, 6-4 win in 69 minutes.
Last year’s runner-up Andrey Rublev, who received a late entry after No 53 Mikhail Kukushkin withdrew, made good use of his fortune to beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi. 
Russian Rublev snatched a tough first set 7-5, breaking Seppi in the last game, before cruising in the second set 6-1.
Elsewhere, fifth-seeded Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili lost just five of his first-service points in beating Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 in one hour and 38 minutes. Chile’s Nicolas Jarry, making his tournament debut, scraped past Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4) in two hours and 38 minutes.
Today, all the top seeds will be in action, with sixth seed David Goffin kicking off the proceeding against qualifier Ricardas Berankis. But all eyes will be on World No 1 Novak Djokovic who will take on 47th ranked Bosnian Damir Dzumhur. Djokovic is bidding for his third Qatar title, after winning here in 2017 and 17  
The match to look forward today is though between Paris Master winner Karen Khachanov and former World No 3 Stan Wawrinka.
Russian Khachanov finished 2018 as one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour, beating Djokovic in the Paris final. Wawrinka came out on top in their only previous encounter in St Petersburg three months ago, but the big-hitting Khachanov will be hard to beat for returning Swiss, who has struggled with series of injuries recently.
Meanwhile, second seed Dominic Thiem from Austria takes on Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
 Results 
(Singles 1st Round))
Andrey Rublev (RUS) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA) 7-5, 6-1
8-Fernando Verdasco (ESP) bt Paulo Lorenzi (ITA) 6-3, 6-4
7-Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) bt Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 6-1, 6-4
5-Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) bt Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 6-1, 1-6, 6-1
Tomas Berdych (CZE) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
Nicolas Jarry (CHI) bt Robin Haase (NED) 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
Maximilian Marterer (GER) bt Peter Gojowczyk (GER) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles (first round)
Damir Dzumhur (BIH) & Dusan Lajovic (SRB) bt 1-Mate Pavic (CRO) & Oliver Marach (AUT) 6-4, 1-6, 10-7
Guido Pella (ARG) & Marton Fucsovics (HUN) bt 2-Jamie Murray (GBR) & Bruno Soares (BRA) 6-3, 6-4
3-Alexander Peya (AUT) & Nikola Mektic (CRO) bt Marius Copil & Horia Tecau (ROU) 6-4, 7-6 (4)
Marco Djokovic & Novak Djokovic (SRB) bt Mubarak Shannan Zayid (QAT) & Cem Ilkel (TUR) 6-3, 3-6, 10-6
David Goffin (BEL) & Pierre-Hughes Herbert (FRA) bt Karen Khachanov (RUS) & Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 7-5, 6-3
 
 Today’s Order of play
First round (prefix denotes seeding)
Centre Court
3:30pm: (6) David Goffin vs (Q) Ricardas Berankis
Followed By: (3) Karen Khachanov vs Stan Wawrinka
(1) Novak Djokovic vs Damir Dzumhur                        
Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs (2) Dominic Thiem
 Court 1
3:30pm: Guido Pella vs (WC) Cem Ilkel
Followed By: (WC) Mubarak Shannan Zayid vs (Q) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
Marton Fucsovics vs Marius Copil
Court 2
3:30pm: Sergiy Stakhovsky vs (4) Marco Cecchinato
Followed By: Dusan Lajovic vs  Adrian Mannarino
Marco Cecchinato and Andreas Seppi vs Santiago Gonzalez and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi
Court 3:
3:30pm
1st Rd: Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop vs (4) Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor
Followed By: Maximo Gonzalez and Nicolas Jarry vs Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Fernando Verdasco