New Delhi: Britain's Tim Henman, who was out of action with a back injury, had a triumphant return to the tennis court at the at the $975,000 Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
In the first round of the season opening tournament Henman upset third-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4 at Khalifa International Tennis Complex.
He has moved out of the top 20 after a long time and was up against No 3 seed Richard Gasquet.
Henman's opponent in the second round will be German Tommy Haas.
Haas came back from a one set deficit to seal a hard fought 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 victory against Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.
Another upset occurred when Italian veteran Davide Sanguinetti snuck past sixth-seeded Belgian Olivier Rochus 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5). Sanguinetti saved four match points to pull the upset.
Two men avoided upsets, as seventh-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils grounded Czech Tomas Zib 7-5, 6-4 and eighth-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez beat Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
Russian Mikhail Youzhny, South African Wesley Moodie and Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis also won their matches on the opening day.
Youzhny overcame veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkman 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, Moodie topped Belarusian Max Mirnyi 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) and Baghdatis blitzed wild card Sultan Khalfan of Qatar 6-1, 6-1.
On Tuesday, world No 1 Roger Federer will open defence of his Doha title with a meeting against Czech Ivo Minar.
The top-seeded Swiss, the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion, beat Croat Ivan Ljubicic in last year's final. The winner of this hardcourt Australian Open tune-up will claim $142,000.
(With inputs from Digvijay Singh Deo)
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