Inigo Cervantes, who ended last season on a high by winning the ATP Challenger Tour Finals, has not started 2016 nearly as well. The twenty-six year-old, currently at a career high 72 was beaten by Bosnian Mirza Basic 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Only one other seed fell in the first matches of 2016, as Ruben Bemelmans, who had played as the second singles player for Belgium in the Davis Cup Final, lost to young Russian Aslan Karatsev. Bemelmans was the fourth seed in Doha qualifying.
Benjamin Becker recovered from the loss of the first set to lose just four more games against Flavio Cipolla. The veteran German won 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Third seed Kyle Edmund faired better than the other player in Doha qualifying who featured in the Davis Cup Final. The British second player eased past Andrea Arnaboldi for the loss of just seven games, winning 6-3, 6-4. The remaining seeds all also won in straight sets, Lukas Lacko, Michael Berrer, Dustin Brown and Radu Albot are now all into the final round of qualifying. Albot and Berrer lost just a combined four games across their two matches as they dispatched two local wildcards, Dustin Brown won two tight sets against Marek Michalicka, and Lacko beat Czech veteran Jan Hernych.
Final Round of Qualifying Doha Picks (Winners in bold):
Mirza Basic vs Dustin Brown
(2) Benjamin Becker vs (6) Michael Berrer
(3) Kyle Edmund vs (8) Radu Albot
Aslan Karatsev vs (5) Lukas Lacko
