By Satya Rath/Doha
The last time the main draw of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open featured five or more top-10 players was in 2009. Andy Murray won the title then, beating now-retired American Andy Roddick in the final. |
After five years, the big guns are back to grace the premier event, which has served as one of three season-opening tournaments on the men’s tour—the other two being the Chennai Open in India and the Brisbane International in Australia—since 1993.
World No 1 Rafael Nadal, No 3 David Ferrer, No 4 Andy Murray, No 7 Tomas Berdych and No 9 Richard Gasquet highlight the 32-men singles field of the 2014 and 22nd edition of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, which begins at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex today.
French journeyman Gael Monfils will open the opening day’s proceedings against Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo, which will be followed by a high-octane clash between big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic and rising Czech Berdych.
Nadal and Murray would be opening their singles campaigns tomorrow. While Nadal faces Czech Lucas Rosol, the Spaniard’s Wimbledon 2012 nemesis, in a tricky first round encounter, Briton Murray should have a cruise against Qatar’s Mousa Zayed, who is ranked 2,099 in the world and has been given a wild card for this event. It will mark Murray’s first competitive match since September 15, when he took a two-month break following a back surgery.
“I feel pretty good. I got a good few weeks of training over in Miami, but matches are important now in order to get sharp again and feel exactly how my back is. Hopefully can get a few matches here this week.
“The surface has changed a little bit since I was last here. I practised on the courts yesterday. It is a great stadium and I have played well here in the past. I hope to play well again,” Murray, who won the 2008 and 2009 titles here, was quoted as saying by ATPWorldTour.com.
Nadal, for who 2013 has been one his best seasons ever on tour, too sounded confident ahead of his clash against Rosol. “I was very happy with what happened last season,” the Spaniard, whose best finish in Doha was a finals appearance in 2010, said. “But it is now a new year. I am excited to be playing again in Doha and I will try my best. I hope to find my rhythm here and try my best to be competitive form the beginning.”
The 2014 event will be the 22nd edition of Qatar Open. Since 1993, some of the greatest tennis players in the world have been descending upon the city to showcase their prowess. It is also the highest prize-money event on the ATP World Tour’s 250 Series, with this year’s total purse being US$1,096,910.
ORDER OF PLAY (CENTRE COURT)
Singles (Round 1): S Giraldo (COL) vs G Monfils (FRA); 4-T Berdych (CZE) vs I Karlovic (CRO); 8-F Verdasco (ESP) vs F Volandri (ITA); WC M Jaziri (TUN) vs T Kamke (GER)
Doubles: A Murray (GBR)/N Zimonjic (SRB) vs D Brands (GER)/F Mayer (GER); R Nadal (ESP)/F Roig (ESP) vs P Andujar (ESP)/L Rosol (CZE) (Matches start 3:30pm onwards)