Top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat countryman Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-1 to open the new season on a winning note yesterday.
By Mikhil Bhat/DohaMichael Berrer is 34, ranked 127 in the world, had never won against a top five player and had a 3-6 record on the ATP Tour last year.Rafael Nadal is known to make blazing comebacks, is the defending champion at Qatar ExxonMobil Open and is currently ranked third in the world.Many would have favoured, throwing caution to the wind and calling the winner even before the match started at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex Centre Court yesterday. And after losing the first set 1-6 to the Spaniard, Berrer threw caution to the wind too.End result? The German qualifier made a winning main draw start to what will be his last season on the tour, handing an error-prone Nadal, who was playing his first official singles match after a long injury break, his first defeat before the quarter-final stage in Doha.The German won the match 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to set up a second round clash with Croatian Ivan Dodig.The first set, in which Nadal gave a glimpse of his vintage spinning forehand early on, seemed like an aberration eventually. It almost did not exist—neither for Berrer, nor for Nadal.The second set almost seemed like another match, with the Spanish 14-time Grand Slam winner’s famed forehand missing the mark more often than not. Nadal had raked up eight unforced errors, the same number as in the entire first set, by the fourth game of the second set as Berrer led 3-1. After the German wrapped up the second set, the trend continued in the third set too.The Spaniard did have a chance to level things up in the 10th game of the third set, when Berrer was serving for the match. A double-fault, and a wide forehand by Berrer, gave Nadal a 0-30 lead. Two points later, Nadal had a double breakpoint. But his backhand return found the net and his forehand return went long.Another double-fault gave Nadal advantage and yet another breakpoint, but the Spaniard couldn’t capitalise. Back to deuce, Nadal’s forehand disobeyed him again to find the net. And he then goes wide on return to give Berrer a memorable win.“It is really unbelievable,” Berrer, who had fellow German Dustin Brown in audience throughout the match, said. “Losing 1-6 felt like the other matches I had against him. So I had to do something about it. It is my last season, I am going for it. I risked also on deuce on my second serve and I did a double fault. But I stayed calm.“But let’s be honest. It was the first match for Rafa after many months due to injury. We have to be realistic. But for me, great! One more year on the Tour, started good.”Nadal put it down to lack of rhythm. “I had a bad game in the third and the fourth one in the second set. He broke me. After that everything changed. “He played well. I was playing with more nerves than usual after that as after long time I wanted to win. I knew that winning a couple of matches here will help me. So that made me play under a bit more tension,” the Spaniard said.World number one Novak Djokovic had no such problems when he breezed past fellow Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-1 in a matter of 58 minutes.Lajovic had four breakpoint opportunities but managed to convert only the first one in the fifth game of the first set, but with Djokovic having won a break already, that only leveled things up.World number one did not take long after that to close out the first set.In the second set, Djokovic threatened a blank-out with a 5-0 lead. Lajovic's only break-point save was in the six game, but Djokovic served for the match thereafter and was through to the second-round for a match against Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky.The Ukrainian reached the second round after beating Qatari wildcard Jabor Mohamed Ali Mutawa 6-1, 6-1.The other seeds to fall were fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who lost to fellow German Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-1, and Argentine eighth seed Leonardo Mayer, who was beaten by Italy’s Andreas Seppi 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-6(4).Earlier, Czech third seed Tomas Berdych kicked off the proceedings on the Centre Court against Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin. Berdych comfortably went past his opponent 6-1, 6-4 to book a second-round meeting with qualifier Blaz Kavcic.The 99th-ranked Slovenian, after a close first set which was decided in a tiebreaker, saved two break points and took advantage of Juan Monaco’s erratic first serve to hand the Argentine a 7-6 (3), 6-4 defeat.With the win, Berdych made amends to his record in Doha, having lost in the first round on his Doha debut last year to big-serving Ivo Karlovic in two tie-breaks.“I had been in a similar situation last year where I was playing quite well, but on court unluckily lost a very close match,” the 29-year-old, who went 4-0 against Istomin yesterday, said after his win. “It was not the best way to start the first week. But this year, it's different. I feel much better. I feel very good on court. Having a win like that, it's just a good sign to go.”Berdych parted ways with his coach Tomas Krupa, who had been with the Czech world number 7 since January 2009, for a “fresh view” by Dani Vallverdu. Vallverdu was part of Andy Murray’s coaching setup for five years before he split with the British world number 6 in November last year.
ResultsSingles: (Q) Michael Berrer (GER) beat (2) Rafael Nadal (ESP) 1-6 6-3 6-4; (1) Novak Djokovic (SRB) beat Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 6-2 6-1; (3) Tomas Berdych (CZE) beat Denis Istomin (UZB) 6-1 6-4; Andreas Seppi (ITA) beat (8) Leonardo Mayer (ARG) 5-7 7-6(4) 7-6(4); Joao Souza (BRA) beat (WC) Malek Jaziri (TUN) 3-6 6-4 6-3; (Q) Blaz Kavcic (SLO) beat Juan Monaco (ARG) 7-6(3) 6-4; Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) beat (5) Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 7-6(3) 4-6 6-1; (Q) Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) beat Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 7-5 6-2; Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) beat (WC) Jabor Mohamed Ali Mutawa (QAT) 6-1 6-1Doubles: David Marrero (ESP) and Fernando Verdasco (ESP) beat (4) Ivan Dodig (CRO) and Max Mirnyi (BEL) 6-2 7-6(2); Benjamin Becker (GER) and Artem Sitak (NZL) beat (1) Alexander Peya (AUT) and Bruno Soares (BRA) 5-3BELOW:
Defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain makes a return to Michael Berrer of Germany (top) during their first round match at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha yesterday. Berrer won 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Pictures: Jayan Orma