DOHA — World No. 3 Rafael Nadal made the worst possible start to the new season as he lost to Germany's Michael Berrer in round one of the Qatar Open. The Spaniard could not build on a strong start and Berrer, ranked 127th, powered through to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Nadal, 28, played only seven matches between Wimbledon and the end of last season as he struggled first with a wrist injury and then appendicitis. Top seed Novak Djokovic earlier beat fellow Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-1. Berrer, 34, had to come through three rounds of qualifying in Doha and had only two wins over top-10 opponents to his name before Tuesday. Third-seeded Tomas Berdych also advanced to the second round with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. Sharapova wins opener Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova were playing in tournaments on opposite sides of Australia, their form veering in opposite directions. The second-ranked Sharapova opened her 2015 season by winning nine straight games in a 6-0, 6-1 win over Yaroslava Shvedova Tuesday in the second round of the Brisbane International. A day after joking about the “miracle coffee” she needed to perk her up during her opening match at the Hopman Cup, top-ranked Williams slumped to a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Eugenie Bouchard of Canada. The Canadians clinched the Group A match against the United States when Vasek Pospisil beat John Isner 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the men's singles. The Czech Republic beat Italy 3-0 in the other match. Third-seeded Angelique Kerber advanced earlier Tuesday with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Daria Gavrilova. Varvara Lepchenko progressed with a 6-4, 6-4 win over fellow American Madison Keys. In a men's first-round upsets, Lukasz Kubot of Poland beat fifth-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-6 (3), 6-4 and Sam Groth beat defending champion Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-2 in a night match. Seventh-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine advanced over Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-2, 6-3. At the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, third-seeded Venus Williams made short work of her first match of the new year by sweeping past Jana Cepelova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-0 in 52 minutes. Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki had to work hard to subdue qualifier Julia Glushko of Israel 6-3, 6-2. Garcia-Lopez, Lu advance In Chennai, fifth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain rallied for a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 win over Evgeny Donskoy, while Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun scored an easy 6-3, 6-4 win over local hope Somdev Devvarman in the first round of the Chennai Open Tuesday. In other keenly fought matches, Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis defeated Italian qualifier Luca Vanni 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 and Swedish wild-card entrant Elias Ymer got past Dutch player Igor Sijsling 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Kvitova beats Jovanovski In Shenzhen, second-seeded Petra Kvitova had six aces in a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Bojana Jovanovski Tuesday in the second round of Shenzhen Open. Also, Zheng Saisai of China defeated Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, and fourth-seeded Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan beat Timea Babos of Hungary 6-3, 6-4. — Agencies
