Second seed Pablo Carreno Busta has been dumped out of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open at the hands of Borna Coric, after the Croatian youngster came from a set down to defeat the Spaniard 5-7, 6-2, 7-6. The 21-year old who is currently ranked 48th in the world saved three match points to seal the win whilst hitting 44 winners to eliminate the world number 10.

The contest lasted over 2 hours and 41 minutes, with the Dubai based player eventually winning 10-8 in the third set tiebreaker. Coric will now move onto the next round to face Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia. 

 Reflecting on the victory, Coric admitted that he was pleased with his strong start to the season. “This is a huge win, for sure, especially because it's the first match of the season. I normally don't start the season very well, so I'm very happy with that.”

2015 finalist and the third seed in the competition Tomas Berdych also suffered the embarrassment of being knocked out in the first round by Jan-Lennard Stuff. The 27-year-old German took the first set 4-6 before Berdych came back to comprehensively take the second set 6-1. The third set was a closely fought affair, with Struff going to a tiebreaker in which Struff who is ranked 53rd in the world won 7-4. 

Fourth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas took an early 6-2 lead in the first set against Guido Pella. However, the Argentian hit back winning closely contested second and third sets 7-5, 6-4 to book his place in the round of 16. 

The shocks didn't stop as sixth seed Filip Krajinovic was knocked out by Peter Gojowczyk of Germany in straight sets 6-4, 6-1. Gojowczyk will now face Matteo Berrettini in the next round. The Italian qualifier came from a set behind against Viktor Troicki of Serbia to prevail 4-6, 7-6, 6-4. 

Richard Gasquet the 2013 winner of the tournament only dropped two matches to progress comfortably in straight sets 6-0, 6-2 against Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic. The Frenchman, who is the fifth seed in the competition will take on Greek youngster Stefanos Tsitsipas tomorrow in the next round. 

Qatari wildcard entrant Jabor Al-Mutawa was knocked out in the first round in straight sets to qualifier Stefano Travaglia. The Italian was dominant in the tie, winning 6-1, 6-2. 
 
Qualifier Mizra Basic made light work of opponent Andreas Haider-Maurer, dispatching with the Austrian in straight sets 4-6,3-6. In just over an hour of play. Basic will now take on Feliciano Lopez in the next round. The eighth seed took over 2 hours and 31 minutes to beat compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 eventually prevailing 7-3 on the tiebreak. 

Aljaz Bedene of Slovakia proved to be too good for wildcard entrant Malek Jaziri brushing aside the wildcard entrant in straight sets 7-5, 6-1. Bedene, who is ranked 49 in the world will now progress to the round of 16 to face number one seed Dominic Theim tomorrow. 
 
In the final match of the day, three-time Qatar Open finalist Gael Monfils got the better of Paolo Lorenzi in the first set 3-6. Italian Lorenzi, who is currently ranked 43rd in the world fought back breaking his opponent in the second set and eventually winning 6-3.  

Monfils broke his opponent in the sixth game whilst Lorenzi did the same ninth game of the third set. However, the Frenchman broke Lorenzi in the final game 40-0 to seal the final set 6-4. Monfils will now progress to the round of sixteen to face Jan-Lennard Struff who earlier in the day got the better of third seed Tomas Berdych.