Ljubicic kicks off defence
Ljubicic kicks off defence 
From correspondents in Doha
Former Australian Captain January 01, 2008
DEFENDING champion Ivan Ljubicic started his Qatar Open title defence on a winning note by defeating former champion Stefan Koubek 6-4 6-4. The fourth-seeded Croatian recorded three service breaks as he overcame his opponent in 73 minutes.
Ljubicic relied heavily on his big serves, but his back-hand returns also created problems for the Austrian who won the title in 2003.
“It is always good to win the first match of the season. It gives you a lot of confidence and it also helps you to assess your game,” Ljubicic told reporterss.
Earlier, Igor Andreev became the first seeded player to lose in the $1.5 million tournament.
The seventh-seeded Russian looked out of sorts on the Centre Court and surrendered meekly to Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-1 6-0 in 45 minutes.
Johansson, a former Australian Open champion, won breaks in the fourth and sixth games of the first set to go 1-0 up in 24 minutes.
The Swede achieved breaks in the first, third and fifth games to win the second set 6-0.
France’s Fabrice Santoro, the 2000 winner, was stretched to three sets by Italian Andreas Seppi before winning 6-4 1-6 6-2.
“It was a tough match. I started off slowly but found my rhythm only in the second set. He (Seppi) played well,” said Santoro.
Reuters