World No.1 Novak Djokovic will open his Qatar ExxonMobil Open campaign against 47th ranked Damir Dzumhur, but it is a tough first round draw for Stan Wawrinka, the three-time Grand Slam Champion.
Switzerland’s Wawrinka, who is on a comeback trail after suffering a series of injuries in the last couple of years, will take on third seed Karen Khachanov of Russia in the opening round at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash complex.
In a twist to the tale, Khachanov is Wawrinka’s doubles partner this week at the ATP World Tour 250 series tournament, which will begin from tomorrow.
Former World No. 3 Wawrinka missed three months of action last year after additional knee problems and dropped out from the top-250 for the first time since 2003. He recovered late in the season to finish the year ranked 66. In the New Year, the 33-year-old will be eager to get back to his best. Wawrinka is in Doha for the first time since 2008, when he lost in the final to Andy Murray.
But Wawrinka won’t have it easy against the 22-year-old Khachanov, who was one of the leading players of last season. The Russian began 2018 just inside top-50 and finished the year just outside top-10. His breakthrough title came at the Paris Masters, where he toppled Djokovic in the final. After three ATP titles and 46 wins in total in 2018, Khachanov will be chasing bigger goals this year.
On the other hand, Djokvoic, who is two-time champion in Doha, in 2016 and 2017, should have no problem in getting past Dzumhur of Bosnia. The two have faced each other once, at Paris Masters last year, where Dzumhur retired hurt after losing the first set.
Djokovic is hoping to put on a strong 2019 campaign after an outstanding 2018 season. The 31-year-old managed to return to his best form during the second part of the last season. Most notably, the Serb won back-to-back Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as returned to the No.1 spot for the first time since 2016.
Last night, Djokovic showed he is in a good shape after winning an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi. The 14-time Grand Slam champion will be the absolute favourite to win his third title in Qatar since there are just three other top 20 players in the field: Dominic Thiem is the second seed, followed by Khachanov and this year’s French Open semifinalist Marco Cecchinato.
Thiem had a good run in Doha last year before he withdrew from his semi-final match against eventual champion Gael Monfils due to a fever. The Austrian will open this year’s campaign against 55th-ranked Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, to whom he lost in the only match they have played each other two years back in Rotterdam.
Tomas Berdych, who has not been competing since June, has received a wild card for the event. The Czech, ranked 71 now, will take on German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round, the winner of which may face eight seed Fernando Verdasco next.
Fourth seed Cecchinato and sixth seed David Goffin will await the qualifiers in their opening round matches. Last year’s runner-up Andrey Rublev, who received a late entry after No. 53 Mikhail Kukushkin withdrew, will take on Andreas Seppi.
Meanwhile, World No 50 Robin Haase, who will kick-off his 2019 season against Nicholas Jarry of Chile, said he was ready to start the new season but added he didn’t want to go with any expectations.
“I don’t have any expectations, because expectations is the mother of all disappointments. So I just try to do my best and work on my game. It’s going well with my coach, who has been with me for two years. If you keep pushing the boundaries and work hard then the results will take care of itself,” the Dutchman said at the draw ceremony yesterday.
Marius Copil, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Robin Hasse and Marco Cecchinatio at the draw ceremony yesterday.
