Tantalising opening ties in Doha

The draw for the 2017 Qatar Classic, the second World Series event of the season, has thrown up some tantalising first round clashes as the Khalifa Internationals Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha.

Top seed Gregory Gaultier faces the dangerous Mexican Cesar Salazar as he begins his quest for a second Classic title,  while defending champion Karim Abdel Gawad meets the even more dangerous Spaniard Borja Golan.

With just eight seeded players in the 32-man draw, sixth seed Marwan Elshorbagy faces a tough opening encounter against fellow world top ten player Paul Coll.

James Willstrop meets the fast rising Diego Elias, while two former top five players meet as Omar Mosaad and Miguel Rodriguez lock horns.

Local hopes once again rest on wildcard Abdulla Al Tamimi, who meets top ten Egyptian Fares Dessouky.

Some potential eye-watering second round matches are Mohamed Elshorbagy v Dessouky, Nick Matthew v Ramy Ashour, and Gawad v Simon Rosner.

NOTE: Ramy Ashour withdrew on 18-Oct, replaced by Mathieu Castagnet

Have a look around the Big, Bold, Blue venue

Qualifying Draws:

Qualifying takes place on the 27th/28th Oct, with plenty of local interest and eight Qatari players hoping to join wildcard Abdulla Al Tamimi in the main draw,

There's a few interesting "local derbies" too, with Malaysia's Ivan Yuen and Eain Yow Ng set for a first round clash, and as well as two all-English encounters featuring Tom Richards v Charles Sharpes and Adrian Waller v Nathan Lake.

Other standout first round matches are Nicolas Mueller v Ben Coleman, Mohamed Reda v Richie Fallows, Farhan Mehboob v Ammar Altamimi and Saurav Ghosal v Mazen Gamal.

View the qualifying draw

Whether they get through or not, the players will get to their matches in style in the sleek BWM official cars ...

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