Nadal loses in Doha, Sharapova dominates in season openers

Check out some of the headlines and results from the top tournaments around the world that you may have missed while you were sleeping. Maria Sharapova

Courtney Nguyen | Jan 6, 2015

Nadal loses in Doha, Sharapova dominates in season openers /

Check out some of the headlines and results from the top tournaments around the world that you may have missed while you were sleeping.

Maria Sharapova dominated in her season opener

The top seed in Brisbane lost just one game against Yaroslava Shvedova, winning 6-0, 6-1 to make the quarterfinals at the Brisbane International. She plays either Carla Suarez Navarro or Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. Angelique Kerber joins her in the quarters after a win over Daria Gavrilova, 6-3, 7-5.

Highlights from Sharapova's win:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/FJBy7ZCEPOI]

Rafael Nadal loses his first match of the season

Nadal ended his 2014 season with a loss to a player ranked outside the Top 100 and that's also how he started off his 2015 season. The Spaniard has yet to find his mojo and lost 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to No. 127 Michael Berrer in the first round of the Qatar Open. Before today, Berrer was 0-2 against Nadal and had never won more than two games in the four sets they played.

It wasn't all bad for Nadal though. Watch this running forehand winner curl in:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg08QaWiGFo]

Novak Djokovic won easily in Doha with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Serbian countryman Dusan Lajovic on Tuesday.

Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki cruised in Auckland

Top-seeded Wozniacki had no problems with No. 154 Julia Glushko, winning 6-3, 6-2. The win sets up a must-watch match on Wednesday, when Wozniacki takes on 18-year-old Taylor Townsend.

Watch List: The 2015 season kicks off with Hopman Cup, Brisbane

Venus, ranked No. 19, lost just one game to Jana Cepelova to win her first match of the year 6-1, 6-0. These are precisely the types of early round wins Venus needs to conserve her energy for the business part of tournaments. In two finals last year -- Montreal and Quebec City -- she played great all week only to run out of gas at the final hurdle. She plays Japan's Kurumi Nara on Wednesday. Also in Auckland, CoCoVandeweghe rallied to beat Roberta Vinci 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Varvara Lepchenko bests Madison Keys in Brisbane

Keys couldn't carry over her good form from her first round win over Dominika Cibulkova and lost to Lepchenko 6-4, 6-4. After saving match point and rally from 1-5 down to Sam Stosur in the first round, Lepchenko is now into the quarterfinals in a wide open section of the draw. She played some very mature, solid tennis to beat Keys and will play either Karolina Pliskova or Alla Kudryavtseva for a spot in the semis.

Steve Johnson holds steady to beat Marinko Matosevic

Johnson continued his momentum from 2014 with a solid 2-6, 7-6 (0), 7-5 win over the local favorite. Johnson gets a shot at No. 2 seed Kei Nishikori on Wednesday in Brisbane.

Highlights:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSi1ypSCYkc]

Another lethargic day for Serena Williams

There was no coffee order this time. Serena's footwork and intensity were non-existent in a 6-2, 6-1 loss to Eugenie Bouchard at Hopman Cup. Whether it was jetlag or a desire to conserve energy, she didn't provide much opposition against Bouchard, who was solid off the ground.

Highlights:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw59zJyVHgk]

Photo of the day

Photo of the day: Animal Planet edition

Video of the day

Quick hands there, Mohammed Lahyani:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h24YGs-Rww]

Video of the day: Yesterday edition

We missed this from yesterday's action at Hopman Cup: John Isner took one for the team during a mixed doubles match with Serena Williams.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8MXNU9Tv-8&t=6]

Wednesday's matches to watch:

Brisbane: Steve Johnson vs. Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov vs. Jeremy Chardy, Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Bernard Tomic.

Auckland: Venus Williams vs. Kurumi Nara, Caroline Wozniacki vs. Taylor Townsend, Sloane Stephens vs. Lauren Davis, CoCo Vandeweghe vs. Kristen Flipkens.

Hopman Cup: Great Britain vs. Poland.

Chennai: Stan Wawrinka vs. Borna Coric.

Doha: David Ferrer vs. Fernando Verdasco, Novak Djokovic vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky, Richard Gasquet vs. Simone Bolelli.

Tweets of the day

[tweet=https://twitter.com/Dimonator/status/552241083011592192]

[tweet=https://twitter.com/serenawilliams/status/552244413154750464]

[tweet=https://twitter.com/roger_rasheed/status/552336136329510912]

[tweet=https://twitter.com/Liambroady/status/552408579605803008]

[tweet=https://twitter.com/Riske4rewards/status/552381273407496194]

[tweet=https://twitter.com/christophclarey/status/552516910680899584]

Published Jan 6, 2015

COURTNEY NGUYEN

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.