Easy wins for Nadal and Federer in Doha

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer both got their 2011 campaigns off to comfortable starts with straight-sets victories in the opening round of the ExxonMobil Open in Doha today.

Nadal was far too strong for Slovakian veteran Karol Beck, reeling off the last seven games of the match to score a lop-sided 6-3 6-0 victory over the world number 103 in just 69 minutes.

Federer was detained marginally longer, taking 78 minutes to dispose of plucky Dutch qualifier Thomas Schoorel, who pushed the world number two to a first set tie-break before going down 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.

Fifth-seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia battled to a 6-3 7-6 (8-6) win over Romania’s Victor Hanescu, while eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber eased past Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-2 6-4.

Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili was a 6-4 7-6 (7-2) winner over former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler, while there were also wins for Lukas Lacko and Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli.