Murray Makes Winning 2017 Start

World No. 1 Andy Murray began his 2017 ATP World Tour season in fine fashion on Tuesday when he defeated Jeremy Chardy 6-0, 7-6(2) at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The Briton is now 25 matches unbeaten.

Murray came out fresh in the first set, dropping only seven points. The Dunblane native secured the first round victory after 81 minutes. He will next face Gerald Melzer, who needed two hours to defeat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-2.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the fifth seed, fought his way past Andrey Kuznetsov 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in 87 minutes and awaits the winner of the match between Dustin Brown and Facundo Bagnis. The Frenchman is making his first appearance in Doha since beating Gael Monfils in the 2012 final.

Sixth seed Ivo Karlovic fired 13 aces and did not face a break point to beat Illya Marchenko 7-6(5), 7-6(0). He next faces NextGen star Karen Khachanov, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Mubarak Shannan Zayid in 57 minutes. Elsewhere, Seventh seed Philipp Kohlschreiber overcame Malek Jaziri 6-2, 7-6(3) in one hour and 43 minutes.

Top Team Advances To Quarter-Finals

World No. 1 doubles team Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares began their 2017 season with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Marcos Baghdatis and Marcin Matkowski. They next face David Marrero and Nenad Zimonjic in the quarter-finals.

Second seeds Mate Pavic and Alexander Peya were upset by Nicolas Almagro and Fernando Verdasco. The all-Spanish duo won 7-6(3), 5-7, 10-7 to set a quarter-final meeting with Facundo Bagnis and Jiri Vesely, who were 6-4, 7-6(7) winners over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Jan-Lennard Struff. Third seeds Vasek Pospisil and Radek Stepanek beat Paolo Lorenzi and Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last eight.