Doha, Qatar – World No. 10 Richard Gasquet was among Tuesday's opening-round winners at the season-opening Qatar Open, a $1.05 million Australian Open tune-up.
The second-seeded Gasquet defeated Czech qualifier Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-4 on the hardcourts at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex. Gasquet'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.
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