Rafa draws Rosol in Doha

Originally published on 28/12/13

The total prize money purse for this year, which begins on December 30 is $1,096,910.

Hoping for a share of that prize money were the players going through qualifying. Dan Evans notched up a straight sets victory over American Michael Shabaz. The British player next faces the 34 year old Czech player, Jan Hernych who defeated the No. 1 seed in the qualifying draw, Teymuraz Gabashvili. Hernych, incidentally, was Andy Murray’s first ever opponent on the main tour, beating the Scot in three sets in Barcelona in 2005.

Five of the world’s top 10 players are in Doha. The draw, conducted in the presence of Fernando Verdasco, Lukas Rosol, Phillip Kohlschreiber and Ernests Gulbis at the Four Seasons Hotel saw world No. 1 Rafael Nadal pitted against Lukas Rosol. Rafa and Rosol have not met since their first round Wimbledon match in 2012, when the Czech player defeated the Spaniard.  Ironic that earlier in the day in the doubles draw where Rafa has a wildcard, playing with Francisco Roig, his first round opponent will be none other than Lukas Rosol who is teamed up with Pablo Andujar.

Rafa and Roig have played doubles before, teaming up in 2009 Montreal Masters when they defeated Novak Djokovic and Dusan Vemic in the round of 32, but then lost to Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram.

Elsewhere in the singles draw, second seed David Ferrer will face Alexandr Dolgopolov. They have met seven times, with Ferrer winning their last meeting at Wimbledon 2013.

Andy Murray, seeded three, will meet a Qatari qualifier, Mousa Zayed. The 19-year-old is ranked 2099 in the world. Tomas Berdych plays Ivo Karlovic in the first round. Karlovic has the winning record in the head to heads by 3-2, winning their most recent meeting at Basel 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(2).

Play in the main draw starts on Monday December 30, with qualifying finishing Sunday 29. Dan Evans is scheduled for the first match at 3:30pm local time (12:30 GMT)

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