Novak Djokovic took just 51 minutes to win his first game of 2016, easily beating Dustin Brown 6-2, 6-2 in the opening game of the Qatar Open Monday. The world No. 1 was rarely troubled by the German and barely raised a sweat in cruising into the second round with an ominous display for his rivals looking for any early-season weaknesses from Djokovic after his dominant 2015. Djokovic said before the tournament started that he is in Doha to win and not merely play some warm-up matches before the defense of his Australian Open crown later this month. And he certainly served notice of that, racing to a 5-0 lead in the first set in just 16 minutes. Brown though rallied, holding his serve for the first time in the sixth game and then breaking the Serb's serve to make it 5-2. The world No. 118 then had two points to claim a third successive game but double-faulted twice, allowing Djokovic to claim the first set in just 25 minutes. The second set followed a similar pattern as Djokovic, 28, swatted aside any potential resistance from Brown — who famously beat Rafael Nadal in the second round at Wimbledon last year – by breaking serve in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. That was pretty much the end of Brown, a qualifier for the tournament, and the contest. The 31-year-old rarely threatened the Serb's serve and it ended in sorry fashion as Brown delivered his fourth double fault of the night to end the match. It was the first ever meeting between the pair. Djokovic, making his second appearance in Qatar, was watched on by coach Boris Becker, the first winner of the Qatar Open back in 1993. Last year in Doha, Djokovic suffered a rare defeat, crashing out in the third round to Ivo Karlovic. In other matches: Damir Dzumhur (BIH) beat Marco Cecchinato (ITA) 6-4, 6-2; Kyle Edmund (GBR) downed Martin Klizan (SVK) 6-2, 6-3; and Jeremy Chardy (FRA x7) ran over Mubarak Shannan Zayid (QAT) 6-1, 6-1. Borna Coric, Ante Pavic advance In Chennai, Croatian players Borna Coric and Ante Pavic each earned three-set wins over Spanish opponents Monday to reach the second round of the Chennai Open. The eighth-seeded Coric defeated Marcel Granollers 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4 while Pavic beat Nicolas Almagro 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1). Also, John Millman of Australia rallied for a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6) win over Evgeny Donskoy of Russia as all three matches on the opening day went to three sets. The field is led by fourth-ranked Stan Wawrinka, who is looking for a third consecutive title in Chennai and fourth overall. — Agencies
