Spain’s David Ferrer serves the ball to Germany’s Dustin Brown during the Qatar ATP Open Tennis tournament in Doha, Qatar. AP
DOHA, Qatar — Top-seeded David Ferrer rallied to defeat German qualifier Dustin Brown 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round of the Qatar Open on Tuesday.
The fifth-ranked Spaniard struggled early against Brown’s serve and net play. With the first set even at 5, Brown hit a drop volley and then broke Ferrer when the Spaniard hit a shot into the net. Brown closed out the set with a crosscourt volley winner.
Ferrer figured out Brown’s serve and the German began making unforced errors. Ferrer broke Brown to go up 3-1 on the way to winning the second and easily won the final set.
Three seeded players were upset, including Jeremy Chardy at No. 5.
Chardy was beaten by German qualifier Daniel Brands 6-4, 6-4. Earlier, Lukas Rosol beat eighth-seeded Pablo Andujar of Spain, 6-2, 7-6 (2). Lukasz Kubot of Poland topped seventh-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain, 6-4, 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia struggled, but rallied to beat Benjamin Becker of Germany 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1. Richard Gasquet, seeded second, beat Czech veteran Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-4.