Wawrinka Learns Path To Doha Trophy
Stan Wawrinka will face Jeremy Chardy or a qualifier in his opening match of the 2020 ATP Tour season, as he attempts to lift his first Qatar ExxonMobil Open trophy.
The 34-year-old, who is the top seed at the 2019 ATP 250 Tournament of the Year, owns a 6-5 record in Doha. Wawrinka’s best result at the tournament came in 2008, when he reached the championship match (l. to Murray).
If Chardy wins his opening match, the Frenchman will face Wawrinka for the seventh time at tour-level. Wawrinka owns an undefeated 6-0 ATP Head2Head record against the World No. 51, which includes a four-set victory in their most recent meeting at last year’s US Open.
Wawrinka shares the top quarter of the draw with Adrian Mannarino, who opens his campaign against Newport and Chengdu runner-up Alexander Bublik. Mannarino fell to Dusan Lajovic in the opening round on his tournament debut last year.
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In the second quarter, fourth seed Milos Raonic will face Tennys Sandgren or a qualifier in the second round, while sixth seed Filip Krajinovic will meet Kyle Edmund in his season opener. Fernando Verdasco and Pablo Andujar also feature in an all-Spanish first-round encounter.
The bottom half of the draw is headlined by 2018 finalist Andrey Rublev (l. to Monfils). The 22-year-old Russian returns for the third straight year, having won five of seven matches in his previous two tournament appearances. Rublev, who is joined in the bottom quarter by fifth seed Laslo Djere, awaits the winner of wild card Malek Jaziri and Mikhail Kukushkin’s first-round clash.
Third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and eighth seed Frances Tiafoe own the two seeded positions in the third quarter of the draw. Tsonga, the 2012 champion (d. Monfils), will begin his quest for a second trophy in Qatar against Miomir Kecmanovic or Jordan Thompson. Tsonga has reached the quarter-finals or better in each of his three previous visits to Doha, compiling a 9-2 tournament record.
Pavic/Soares Lead Doubles Field
Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares will face wild cards Marton Fucsovics and Verdasco in their first match of the season.
The top seeds, who joined forces at the Fever-Tree Championships in June last year, will be aiming to lift their second title as a team after reaching two championship matches in 2019. Pavic and Soares picked up their maiden team trophy at the Rolex Shanghai Masters (d. Kubot/Melo) before a runner-up finish at the Intrum Stockholm Open (l. to Kontinen/Roger-Vasselin).
Former champions Chardy and Fabrice Martin will also be bidding to claim a second crown in Doha. The 2017 titlists share the top half of the draw with Pavic and Soares and will open their campaign against Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak.
Second seeds Henri Kontinen and Franko Skugor will meet wild cards Malek Jaziri and Rashed Nawaf in their first-round match. The Finnish-Croatian tandem are joined in the bottom half of the draw by Rohan Bopanna and Wesley Koolhof.