Nasser Al Khelaifi (fourth right), President of Qatar Tennis Federation, Karim Alami, Tournament Director (third right), pose for a picture along with Nikolay Davydenko (second left) of Russia, Feliciano Lopez (fourth left) of Spain, Richard Gasquet (third left) of France and an official of the ATP Tour (left) during a draw ceremony held in Doha yesterday. Bart Cahir (centre), President and General Manager of ExxonMobil Qatar Inc. The $1m event begins tomorrow at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
DOHA: Top seed David Ferrer will launch the new season against a qualifier but the in-form Spaniard was drawn along side experienced Russians Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko in the 32-man Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
Ferrer, who yesterday finished third at Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, is expected to clash at the quarter-finals stage against fourth seed Youzhny who is ranked 25 on the ATP Tour computer rankings.
Winner of seven ATP Tour titles in 2012, Ferrer will be starting his 13th pro-season in Doha this week.
Fourth seed Youzhny, who reached the quarter-finals before falling 4–6, 4–6 to top seed Rafael Nadal in Doha last year, will take on Benjamin Becker of Germany in the first round.
Davydenko, unseeded for the 32-man event, will open his campaign against Victor Hanescu of Romania. Davydenko, winner of the 2009 season-ending championships and the 2011 runner-up in Doha, is coming back an injured-laden 2012.
Second seed Richard Gasquet of France also opens his 2013 campaign against a qualifier but the 2007 Wimbledon semifinalist is expected to clash against sixth seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia in the last 16 of the $1m event.
Third seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany faces Ivan Dodig of Croatia in the first round clash at Khalifa International Tennis Complex.
Kohlschreiber is expected to run into Gael Monfils of France in the third round of the six-day season opener.
Monfils - a hugely popular figure in Qatar - may find the support missing this time when he plays Qatar’s Mousa Shanan Zayed in the first round.
Jeremy Chardy, who is seeded five, plays against a qualifier and is expected to clash against the winner of a match involving two wildcard entrants from Egypt.
Seventh seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain could meet Davydenko in the third round if he wins the first two matches of the tournament. Lopez plays Lukasz Kubot of Poland in the first round.
Pablo Andujar of Spain is seeded eighth for the season-opener. Andujar tackles Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic.
On Friday, the tournament was robbed off of some sheen when former world number one Rafael Nadal pulled out of the event because of a stomach virus.
The winner in Doha will take home the top prize of $180,000 and 250 ranking points.
The losing finalist will be richer by $ 95,130 while the losing semi-finalists win $51,530 each.
First-round action commences tomorrow.
The qualifying rounds will take place today, with action commencing at 3:30pm.
The peninsula
