Djokovic beats Nadal to win Qatar Open
Reigning world number 1 Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-2, at the Qatar Open final 2016 to win his first Qatar Open title. Djokovic won the title without dropping a single set in the entire tournament. The win gives Djokovic a lead over Nadal in their head-to-head encounters, with Djokovic winning 24 matches compared to Nadal's 23 victories.
The Qatar Open (now known as the Qatar ExxonMobil Open) is a professional men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, hosted by the Qatar Tennis Federation every year in Doha. It is part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series, the highest prize-money event in the series. The tournament takes place every year in January, kick-starting the ATP World Tour.
The first Qatar Open was held in 1993 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha. Germany's Boris Becker became its first winner, followed by Sweden's Stefan Edberg who won 2 consecutive titles. In 1995, ExxonMobil became the official sponsor of the Qatar Open, a partnership that has lasted for 20 years, and came to be called Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
The Qatar Tennis Federation launched a women inclusive tournament only in 2001 as women's sporting events were not popular in the country previously. The tournament is known as Qatar Total Open and happens annually.
After his win in 2005, Roger Federer went on to win the most singles' titles at the tournament, bagging the title in 2006 and 2011. Rafael Nadan won the Qatar Open in 2014 and has won the most number of doubles' titles at the event. Andy Murray won two consecutive titles in 2008 and 2009. In 2015, the championship was won by David Ferrer.
The 24th Qatar Open kicked off in Doha with a field of 4 Top-10 players. World No.1 Novak Djokovic led the draw, followed by World No.5 Rafael Nadal and World No. 6 Tomas Berdych. The defending champion David Ferrer was seeded seven in the draw. 32 players are competing in the singles events and 16 teams in the doubles events.
The Qatar ExxonMobil Award was declared as the 'Tournament of the Year' in the ATP World Tour Awards 2015 by ATP players' votes.
Spanish duo Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez won the doubles title at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. They defeated fourth seeds Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya 6-4, 6-3 in a 66-minute doubles final in Doha. They split $64,420 in prize money and earned 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points. This is the first ATP world tour title that the duo has managed to win.
