The final draw of the opening 2016 tennis fixtures has been released for the ATP 250 event in Doha.
Novak Djokovic’s draw looks relatively straightforward, as he will face a yet undetermined qualifier in the first round. Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri and Spain’s former top ten player Fernando Verdasco will battle for the right to face the world No. 1 in the second round.
Leonardo Mayer is the first seed that Djokovic could face, and he also starts with a qualifier. Paolo Lorenzi and Pablo Andujar complete the top quarter.
Second seed Rafael Nadal, who suffered a shock defeat in this tournament to Michael Berrer last year, also appears to have a manageable early draw. He faces countryman Pablo Carreno-Busta in the first round. Carreno-Busta enjoyed his first top 10 scalp with victory over Roger Federer in the Shanghai Masters late last season. Andreas Seppi is Nadal’s earliest potential seeded opponent.
Third seed Tomas Berdych has probably the toughest draw of the top seeds, as he has to contend with the likes of Feliciano Lopez and Martin Klizan in his side of the draw. Lopez and Klizan is a potential second round match but it is likely that one of them will be Berdych’s quarter-final opponent if the Czech reaches that stage. Berdych starts against serve-volley favouring Sergiy Stakhovsky. Berdych is in Djokovic’s half of the draw, with that a potential semi-final.
David Ferrer is the final member of the top ten with a high seed in Doha. Simone Bolleli and seventh seed Jeremy Chardy are likely Ferrer’s biggest earliest tests. Ferrer is in the same half as compatriot Rafael Nadal, but will have to beat Illya Marchenko in his first match.
Full Doha draw:
(1) Novak Djokovic vs Qualifier
Fernando Verdasco vs Malek Jaziri
Pablo Andujar vs Paolo Lorenzi
Qualifier vs (8) Leonardo Mayer
(3) Tomas Berdych vs Sergiy Stakhovsky
Marco Cecchinato vs Damir Dzumhur
Qualifier vs Martin Klizan
Daniel Munoz De La Nava vs (5) Feliciano Lopez
(7) Jeremy Chardy vs (WC) Mubarak Shannon Zayid
Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs Paul-Henri Mathieu
Teymuraz Gabashvili vs Simone Bolelli
Illya Marchenko vs (4) David Ferrer
(6) Andreas Seppi vs Ricardas Berankis
(WC) Marsel Ilhan vs Andrey Kuznetsov
Robin Haase vs Qualifier
Pablo Carreno Busta vs (2) Rafael Nadal
