DOHA: Defending champion David Ferrer crashed out in the first round of the Qatar Open on Tuesday, beaten in three sets by Ukraine’s Ilya Marchenko, ranked number 94 in the world.

Ferrer, the number four seed, struggled throughout, losing his serve in the very first game and eventually going down 7-6, 3-6, 2-6 in an eventful clash lasting over two and a quarter hours.

“Of course I am disappointed because I lost in the first round,” said Ferrer, the world No. 7

He was playing with a new racquet but said this was not the reason for his loss.

“I am happy with the racquet. The problem is not the racquet, it’s my serve.”

For Marchenko, the result represented the best victory of his career.

Before Tuesday’s game he had never beaten anyone in the top 10.

More remarkably it was the first time that Marchenko had even won a set against a top 10 player.

“It was a fantastic day for me, I am really happy with the performance,” said the 28-year-old.

“It’s a fantastic way to start the season.”

Despite losing the first set, Marchenko, hitting booming forehands and backhands from the baseline throughout, had served for the set at 5-4.

However, he squandered his chance and Ferrer clawed his way back in typical fashion, eventually taking the tie-break 10-8 in a set lasting one hour and eight minutes.

But he was immediately broken in the second set by Marchenko, who this time held on and then powered through the final set to claim a famous victory.

Despite double-faulting three times in the final game, Marchenko eventually closed the game out to claim a second round clash on Wednesday against Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Ferrer won the Qatar Open last year — one of five World Tour singles titles he took during 2015 — beating Tomas Berdych in straight sets in the final.

Earlier on Tuesday, Berdych, who is this year’s number three seed, beat another Ukrainian, Sergiy Stakhovsky in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4.

The Czech said he was “feeling good” after his victory.

Petra Kvitova ousted in Shenzhen Open 1st round

Double Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova went out of the WTA Shenzhen Open in the first round on Tuesday, retiring hurt in a shock exit for the world number six.

The second seed was broken twice as she lost the first set 6-2 against China’s Zheng Saisai — ranked 72 in the world — in 41 minutes, and dropped out before a point was played in the second set.

It was Kvitova’s second consecutive first-round exit in China, after she went out at the first hurdle at the China Open in October — when she played on painkillers while suffering the ongoing effects of glandular fever.

Another unseeded home player also dumped out a higher-ranked player at the $500,000 WTA Shenzhen tournament on Tuesday, with Britain’s Johanna Konta losing to Wang Qiang.

The No. 5 seed, who reached the quarter-finals of the WTA Wuhan Open last year, took the first set but eventually lost 6-3, 3-6, 3-6 to the world number 110 in an hour and 50 minutes.

Australian-born Konta, aged 24, is currently ranked 48 in the world and last year reached the final 16 of the US Open. In Wuhan she beat the then-world number two Simona Halep before finally going out at the hands of seven-time Grand Slam singles winner Venus Williams.

There were no such problems for the Polish top seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the world number five who won the WTA Finals in Singapore in November.

She brushed aside Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic 6-4, 6-3, in little more than an hour.