Defeated No More: Djokovic Brothers Win In Doha

The Djokovic brothers are on the board. Novak Djokovic and Marko Djokovic celebrated the end of 2018 with their first doubles win as a team on Monday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

The Djokovics beat fellow wild cards Cem Ilkel of Turkey and Qatar’s Mubarak Shannan Zayid 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. The brothers first played together 11 years ago and lost their first five matches – at 2007 Umag, 2008 Bangkok, 2009 Umag, 2011 Dubai and 2013 Dubai.

They’ll play for a spot in the semi-finals against Damir Dzumhur/Dusan Lajovic, who upset top seeds Oliver Marach/Mate Pavic 6-4, 1-6, 10-7.

Second seeds Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares also fell in their opener, losing to Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics and Guido Pella of Argentina 6-3, 6-4.

The star-studded team of Russian Karen Khachanov and Swiss Stan Wawrinka couldn’t make it out of the first round, either, falling 7-5, 6-3 to Belgian David Goffin and Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France. Goffin/Herbert will meet Nikola Mektic/Alexander Peya in the quarter-finals. Mektic/Peya dismissed Marius Copil/Horia Tecau 6-4, 7-6(4).