Winning start for top seed Thiem in Qatar

Bengaluru/Doha, January 2:Qatar Open top seed Dominic Thiem of Austria beat Russia's Evgeny Donskoy 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to enter the second round of the ATP World 250 series tournament at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex.

The tournament has lost much of its sheen with the last-minute pull out of two-time defendng champion Novak Djokovic due to a recurring elbow injury.

Big stars give Qatar Open a miss

Second and third seeds Pablo Carreno Busta and Tomas Berdych will be in action on Tuesday (January 2).

Thiem won a whopping 92 per cent of his first serve points to hold off a battling Donskoy, who pushed the 24-year-old to the brink in the opening set, and regained control in the second set to charge to victory.

"It was a good victory because (of a) tough opponent... after a pretty long period without any matches," said Thiem.

1st match of the year ☑️
1st win of the year ☑️

It was a successful season-opener for @ThiemDomi @QatarTennis

Read More ➡️ https://t.co/R1dH7ULXQ8 pic.twitter.com/Rlekr48yRP

— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) January 1, 2018

"After a good start, it got pretty close in the first set... at the end I'm satisfied with most parts of my game."

The world No.5 will play either Slovenia's Aljaz Bedene or Tunisian wildcard Malek Jaziri in the second round.

Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who is based in Doha, also had to fight for victory after losing the first set against Israel's Dudi Sela but the seventh-seed staged a comeback to win the final 10 games of the match and record a 4-6 6-4 6-0 win.

Verdasco will face Andrey Rublev in the second round after the Russian was handed a win as German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe retired with the score at 6-1 in the 20-year-old's favour.

Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili, who beat Italy's Thomas Fabbiano 6-4 6-3, will play the winner of the match between Busta and Borna Coric.