Doha, Qatar (Sports Network) - Top seed David Ferrer and world No. 10 Richard
Gasquet were among Tuesday's opening-round winners at the season-opening Qatar
Open, a $1.05 million Australian Open tune-up.
The world No. 5 Ferrer got off to a slow start before righting the ship for a
5-7, 6-3, 6-2 victory over 6-foot-5 German qualifier Dustin Brown.
Up next for Ferrer, who led the ATP World Tour with seven titles last year,
will be another German in Tobias Kamke.
The second-seeded Gasquet defeated Czech qualifier Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-4 on the
hardcourts at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex. The nifty Frenchman's
second-round opponent will be Slovenia's Grega Zemlja.
Meanwhile, veteran Mikhail Youzhny became the fourth-ever Russian player to
record 400 ATP match wins with a 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 decision against German
Benjamin Becker.
Mild upsets came when German qualifier Daniel Brands doused fifth-seeded
Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4 and Czech Lukas Rosol topped eighth-seeded
Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-2, 7-6 (7-2). Rosol shocked Rafael Nadal in the
second round at Wimbledon last summer.
Last year's Doha runner-up and two-time finalist Gael Monfils moved on with a
6-0, 6-3 pasting of wild card Mousa Shanan Zayed of Qatar on Day 2. The oft-
injured Monfils gave way to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in last year's all-French
finale here.
Also on Tuesday, German qualifier Tobias Kamke whipped Spaniard Ruben Ramirez
Hidalgo 6-1, 6-2, Slovak Lukas Lacko held off Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
6-1, 2-6, 6-4, and Egyptian Mohamed Safwat double-bageled fellow wild card
Jabor Mohammed Ali Mutawa of Qatar 6-0, 6-0.
The Sports Network