(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Former champion Richard Gasquet of France yesterday overcame a second-set stutter to reach the second round of the $1.2m Qatar ExxonMobil Open where top seeds Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal crushed opponents in their doubles clashes.
Gasquet, the 2013 Qatar Open champion, beat Spain's Pablo Andujar 6-3, 7-5 in 1 hour and 32 minutes on the Centre Court at the Khalifa Tennis Complex here.
Earlier yesterday, Simone Bolelli fired 10 aces to beat German veteran Benjamin Becker to reach round two of the opening event of the season.
Bolelli, 29, won 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) in 1 hour and 29 minutes.
Bolelli, who reached the quarter-finals in Doha in 2013, produced five aces in each set to seal the match with ease.
Gasquet grabbed the first set with ease but saw Andujar, 28, fight back in game seven while trailing 4-2. Despite the stutter at 5-3, Gasquet took the second set 7-5 and completed his first career win over the Spaniard.
"It was important to build my confidence," Gasquet said after the match. "In the second set, I had a problem with my serve but I kept fighting a lot."
"I could have won 5-3 but it became five-all because guys like Pablo always make it tough," Gasquet, who kept re-wrapping his racket grip, said.
"I know this is not Australia but I was sweating a lot," the Frenchman said when asked about his grips. "It was a very important win for me when I won here two years ago. It is always important to start the season well and that's why I am in Doha. I hope I continue like this," Gasquet, 28, said.
Also yesterday, defending champion Nadal teamed up with Juan Monaco of Argentina to beat Bolelli and Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-3, 6-3 in exactly one hour.
In another doubles clash yesterday, world number one Djokovic and Serbian team-mate Filip Krajinovic breezed past Mohammed Ali Mutawa of Qatar and Malek Jaziri of Tunisia.
Djokovic, set to make his Doha debut today in the singles, and Krajinovic won 6-1, 6-4 in about 53 minutes.
In other singles matches yesterday, unseeded Dustin Brown of the Germany beat Italy's Paolo Lorenzi 7-6, 6-3 in 81 minutes while Croatia's Ivan Dodig eased past Egypt's Mohammed Safwat 6-3, 6-1.
Top seed Djokovic and second seed Nadal will officially kick-off the new ATP Tour season with first-round clashes at Khalifa Tennis Complex today.
Djokovic will take on compatriot Dusan Lajovic in his first ATP Tour clash of the 2015 season on Centre Court.
Defending champion Nadal will be up against qualifier Michael Berrer of Germany in his first match of the new season.
Last year, Nadal beat Frenchman Gael Monfils in the final to start the 2014 season with a bang.
In other interesting match-ups today, third seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic will play unseeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan while fourth seed David Ferrer of Spain will take to the court for a match against Dutch qualifier Thiemo de Bakker.
Two Germans - fifth seed Phillip Kohlschreiber and Jan-Lennard Struff - also go into the new season with a first-round match-up
The 31-year-old Kohlschreiber won his fifth career title in Dusseldorf last year. He also made the semi-finals at Halle, Hamaburg, Dubai and Vienna.
In a clash that could have Arab tennis fans interested, Brazil's Joao Souza and Tunisia's Malek Jaziri will face off.
Eighth seed Mayer of Argentina will be hoping for a win against Andreas Sippi, the experienced Italian. Sippi, 30, made the quarter-finals at six events in 2014.
Also today, Russia's Mikhail Youzhny will face Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili.
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