DOHA — World number five Dominic Thiem eased through to the quarter finals of the Qatar Open on Wednesday to become the only seeded player left in the tournament after the first two rounds saw the seven other highest-ranked players eliminated.
Four seeds crashed out in the first round and a further three lost in the second, ensuring that the Doha tournament will have its first non-seeded finalist since Gael Monfils in 2014.
French veteran Richard Gasquet and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez — seeded five, seven and eight — lost on Wednesday as the surprises continued in Doha.
They joined second seed Pablo Carreno Busta, as well as Tomas Berdych, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Filip Krajinovic — numbers three, four and six respectively — who all fell at the first hurdle.
The carnage among the seeds comes after the tournament was shorn of three major stars before it even began, with Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulling out as they try to recover from injuries. — AFP
