seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga began his season with a crushing 6-2, 6-0 win over Spain's Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the first round of the Qatar Open. Tsonga had not played since October because of a knee injury, but he showed no signs of rust as he broke serve twice in the first set and three times in the second to complete a one-sided win. “Yeah, I played a good match,” Tsonga said. “Everybody's friendly with me here. I feel really good. “I'm completely fit. I'm maybe healthier than before, and, you know, I just enjoy every moment on the court, and that's it. I hope it will continue.” Tsonga will face Sergei Bubka in the second round after the Ukrainian wildcard entry, who is the son of the former Olympic and world champion pole-vaulter of the same name, upset Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-0, 6-3. Also Monday, fourth seed and defending champion Nikolay Davydenko of Russia eased past Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 6-4 in 63 minutes. Playing an aggressive baseline game, punctuated with solid returns, Davydenko, who beat Rafael Nadal of Spain in last year's final, broke Fognini in games two and four to take the first set in 25 minutes. Employing similar tactics, the 29-year-old Russian wasted little time in taking the second set. Davydenko fired six aces, and did not face a break point in the entire match. Top-ranked Rafael Nadal plays his first ATP match of the season against Karol Beck of Slovakia Tuesday, when two-time champion Roger Federer of Switzerland also plays Dutch qualifier Thomas Schoorel. Nishikori sends Cilic packing In Chennai, Marin Cilic's preparations for this month's Australian Open suffered a setback Monday when he lost to Kei Nishikori of Japan 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2 in the first round of the Chennai Open. The second-seeded Cilic broke his opponent in the fifth game to grab the opening set, but Nishikori turned the match on its head with an inspired fight-back to send the two-time defending champion packing. In other matches, Robert Kendrick of the United States, Bjorn Phau of Germany, and Stephane Robert of France, recorded straight-set victories to make the second round. Kendrick moved into the second round by defeating Denis Gremelmayr of Germany 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, while Phau outplayed Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-2, 6-2 in another match. Meanwhile, sixth-seeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic kickstarted the new season with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Eduardo Schwank of Argentina and in another late match, Ivan Dodig of Croatia scored a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Brazilian Marcos Daniel. No. 6-ranked Tomas Berdych heads the field and the Czech will open the new season Tuesday with a first round match against Frederico Gil of Portugal. Sharapova prevails Former top-ranked Maria Sharapova overcame a last-minute change of opponent, beating Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the second round of the ASB Classic Tennis Tournament in Auckland Monday. Third-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova also progressed to the second round, beating New Zealand wild card Sacha Jones 6-4, 6-2. Sania Mirza of India conceded a 5-2 lead in a third set tiebreaker to lose 1-6, 7-6 (7), 6-7 (5) to Germany's Sabine Lisicki.
