Top-seeded Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who both competed at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November last year, saved one match point chance to scrape past Thomaz Bellucci and Steve Johnson 6-4, 3-6, 13-11 on Monday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. Herbert and Mahut led 9/6 in the Match tie-break, before Bellucci and Johnson won four straight points to held a match point opportunity at 10/9.

Second seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers denied Daniel Nestor his 1,000th doubles match win. Kontinen and Peers beat Nestor and Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-3, while third seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski overcame Jonathan Marray and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-3, 6-4.

At the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Teymuraz Gabashvili and Albert Ramos-Vinolas converted their second match point opportunity to defeat Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco 7-6(4), 4-6, 11-9 in one hour and 45 minutes. Nadal won the Doha doubles title with Albert Costa in 2005, Marc Lopez in 2009 and 2011 and Juan Monaco last year.

Grigor Dimitrov took the first step in putting a disappointing 2015 campaign behind him, turning in a gritty 6-3, 7-6(10) victory over Gilles Simon in the first round of the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp.

The 24-year-old Bulgarian claimed the first main draw match of the 2016 ATP World Tour season in two hours and six minutes, firing eight aces, while surviving six of seven break points faced. After fighting bravely to stave off five match points in the second set tie-break, Simon double faulted at 10-all. Dimitrov then closed it out on the next point. The Brisbane runner-up in 2013 (l. to Murray), Dimitrov is making his fourth straight trip to the Australian city. He notched his first victory over the Frenchman in five FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters and will next face either Viktor Troicki or Steve Johnson in the second round. Roger Federer looms as a potential quarter-final opponent for the Haskovo native.

In other first round action on Monday, Aussie John-Patrick Smith faces Denis Kudla, Benjamin Mitchell battles Tobias Kamke and rising teen Hyeon Chung duels with home hope Sam Groth.

Juan Martin Del Potro, a former No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, has yet to set a date for his injury comeback. However, media outlets in his native Argentina have reported that he could return to the ATP World Tour early in the new year.

Tennis journalist Enrique Quique Cano tweeted:

“Del Potro to resume practice after New Year’s, looking to come back to the tour at the end of February or beginning of March on hard court.”

Del Potro regresaría a entrenamientos luego d Año Nuevo, con miras a regresar al circuito a fines d febrero o inicio d marzo en rápida/dura.

— Enrique Quique Cano (@QuiqueCano) December 28, 2015

The Argentinian, winner of 18 ATP World Tour titles, has been keeping fans updated on his progress via his social media feeds after undergoing wrist surgery last year.

La paz de entrenar temprano a la mañana en Tandil… /// The silence of the early morning training in Tandil… pic.twitter.com/TzewRPljQV

— Juan M. del Potro (@delpotrojuan) December 29, 2015

Del Potro’s last tournament appearance came in March 2015 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami, when he lost a first-round match against Vasek Pospisil.

Tennis courts don’t come with many better views than this.

The stage was set in spectacular style for the launch of the 2016 ATP World Tour season on Sunday in Doha as the top two seeds at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2016, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, visited the Museum of Islamic Art Park for a quick hit on a sand court overlooking the city’s skyline.

The location was framed by a traditional Arabic tent, falcons and camels.

“We always do promotions at very special places here in Doha,” said Nadal, who is making his eighth appearance at this ATP World Tour 250 hard court tournament. “I’m very happy to start off the new season here.”

Both Nadal and Djokovic will be looking to avoid repeats of the surprise losses they endured in Doha last season. Nadal, who fell to Michael Berrer in the 2015 first round, opens his campaign against fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. The Mallorcan is also competing in the doubles alongside Fernando Verdasco, with the pair set to face Teymuraz Gabashvili and Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Monday.

World No. 1 Djokovic suffered his first of just six defeats in 2015 at the hands of Ivo Karlovic in the quarter-finals on his Doha debut last year. The Serb opens his 2016 campaign on Monday against German qualifier Dustin Brown.

“The conditions for the players here in Doha are terrific,” said Djokovic. “The tennis centre is phenomenal. You can see that there is a history to this event, and the people who are running the tournament obviously share the passion and love for the sport.

“I went out early in the quarter-finals last year to Karlovic. That actually motivates me even more to try to go as far as I can and compete for the trophy. Of course I want to do that.”

The 2016 ATP Challenger Tour gets underway on Monday with four tournaments on three continents.

In the French territory of New Caledonia, the Challenger BNP Paribas Noumea returns for a 13th edition. Top seed and 2013 champion Adrian Mannarino is joined by second seed and 2014 titlist Alejandro Falla. Fourth seed Adrian Menendez-Maceiras finished runner-up to Steve Darcis last year. View Draw

Meanwhile, the Australian summer of tennis continues on the hard courts of the $75,000 event in Happy Valley. Two of three American teens in the Top 200 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe look to kick off their 2016 campaigns with successful weeks Down Under. Top seed Dudi Sela continues his quest to become just the second player to win 20 titles in ATP Challenger Tour history. View Draw

Did the work this offseason finally heading to Australia #excited #longflightaheadofme #bettergetcomfy

— frances tiafoe (@FTiafoe) December 30, 2015

A trio of Japanese veterans lead the charge in Bangkok, as Tatsuma Ito, Yuichi Sugita and Go Soeda represent three of the top five seeds. Sugita is the defending champion. Former World No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny, who won his first Challenger title in more than 15 years – in Eckental, Germany last November – is the third seed. View Draw

The lone tournament on clay this week is in Mendoza, Argentina, where home hope Horacio Zeballos leads the pack. Fellow Argentines Facundo Arguello and Facundo Bagnis are also seeking to impress in front of the home fans. Young gun Nicolas Jarry, of Chile, is also in the draw. View Draw

Teaming up for the second time at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishikori kicked off the new season with a victory on Sunday.

The Bulgarian and the Japanese downed former doubles World No. 5 Lukas Dlouhy and fellow rising star Dominic Thiem 7-6(5), 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes, converting on three of 10 break points. They set a potential quarter-final encounter against top seeds and reigning US Open champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. Dimitrov and Nishikori had previously reached the semi-finals together in Brisbane in 2013.

In singles, 2013 finalist Dimitrov opens against fifth seed Gilles Simon on Monday, while second seed Nishikori awaits either Denis Istomin or Mikhail Kukushkin after receiving a first-round bye.

Also in doubles action on Sunday, home hopes James Duckworth and Chris Guccione rallied past the French duo of Simon and Lucas Pouille 2-6, 6-2, 10-2. The wild cards converted on two of three break chances during the 62-minute affair.