The belgian David Goffin, sixth favorite, reached the second round of the tournament on Tuesday ATP 250 from Doha, from which the seventh seed has already been eliminated, the Swiss Stan Wawrinka. Recent winner in Montpellier, Goffin beat the Serbian in his Doha debut Filip Krajinovic by 6-4 and 6-4 in an hour and 21 minutes. The Belgian, 14 in the ranking, was cited in the round of 16 with the American Taylor Fritz, that before he had gotten rid of the Italian Lorenzo Sonego by 7-6 (5) and 6-4.
The Swiss Stan Wawrinka, seventh seeded and who lost the first exchange against the South African, could not overcome his first obstacle Lloyd Harris, from the previous one. In a tough match, Harris beat Wawrinka 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6) and 7-5 in two hours and 40 minutes. The South African will now play against the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, executioner of the Serbian Dusan Lajovic by 7-6 (3) and 6-3.
Harris achieved the most famous victory of his career and it was to whom he confessed that he was his childhood hero. “I don't have many words at the moment. Stan was my idol growing up, so just playing against him was amazing. “ said Harris, 24 (eleven less than the Swiss) and 84 in the world, after the game.
Daniel Evans, Federer's first rival on his return
The British Daniel Evans beat the French Jeremy Chardy, 6-4, 1-6 and 6-2 in two hours and 15 minutes in the first round of the ATP 250 in Doha, and will be the first rival in the return of the Swiss Roger Federer to the circuit this Wednesday. Evans, 30, ranked 28th on the world list, arrives at this event perhaps at the best moment of his career with the achievement of his first title in Melbourne, at the Murray River, a preparatory tournament for the first major of the season.
There, he finally managed to triumph in an ATP tournament after two failed finals, beating Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2 and 6-3 in the final. This week he is only two ranks away from the best classification of his sporting life, which could have been even better had it not been for the sanction for positive cocaine that kept him out of competition for 12 months between 2017 and 2018.
The Birmingham player will meet Federer for the fourth time, knowing that he could never win a single set against the Swiss: not at Wimbledon 2016, not at the Australian Open and US Open in 2019.
Table and results.