Hosts Qatar played their part in beach tennis history at the ANOC World Beach Games, as their mixed doubles team played in the first match on Katara Beach’s Center Court.

Sultan Al-Alawi and Mubaraka Al Naimi, the hosts' sole representatives in the competition, began playing the sport just a matter of weeks ago after being informed of their place in the draw, but improved as the match wore on against Japan’s Naoaki Yamamoto and Erina Otsuka, who eased to a 6-0 6-1 victory.

“In the second set we started to feel we were in the game,” said tennis player Al Naimi, who is currently making the transition from the junior ranks to the ITF World Tennis Tour.

“We felt excited playing and representing our country for the first time in beach tennis. We enjoyed it a lot, and we had a lot of support – our coaches and my friends were there. We had fun playing and competing against Japan, they were a great team. We did a great job and tried our best.”

Al-Alawi admitted a key part of his preparation for the World Beach Games was watching highlights of the sport on YouTube. Now in his thirties and considering which sport to pick up after his tennis career, he admitted to being won over by beach tennis, which he expects to grow quickly in the region.

“The balls were too fast for us today,” he said. “We tried our best to compete with them, but they’re professionals and we just started playing. Hopefully in the future you’ll see more Qataris playing. I like it a lot, and I want to continue playing this game. We’ll ask if we can start playing the sport all around the world. If we start now, it’s better than starting later.”

Yamamoto hopes Qatar and countries are inspired by what they see in Doha as beach tennis continues its rapid expansion worldwide: “I hope beach tennis becomes an Olympic sport, and this is the first step, so I am very happy and so excited.

“They are tennis players – many countries make new players, and I hope all countries can play in these tournaments and in the future make this an Olympic sport.”

Six matches in total were played on a shortened opening day at the ANOC World Beach Games prior to Satuday’s Opening Ceremony.

As well as the five mixed doubles first round matches, Valentina Persad and Iosune Roncal secured their spot in the women’s doubles first round with a 7-6 6-4 win over Portugal’s Manuela Cunha and Catarina Alexandrino, who also lost her first-round mixed doubles encounter alongside Pedro Maio, going down 6-1 6-4 to Japan’s Satoshi Goda and Aoi Shibayama.

It was a tough day for the American pairs in action, as French duo Mathieu Guegano and Marthilde Hoarau beat Mark Bonfigli and Nadia Johnston 6-1 6-4, and Nikolai Gurev and Liudmila Nikoyan downed Carlos Rivera and Nicole Melch 6-2 7-6.

But the match of the day rounded out the action on Center Court, as Puerto Rico’s Javier Mendez and Beatriz Rivera fought back to beat Portuguese duo Henrique Freitas and Manuela Cunha in a match tiebreak, 6-7 6-3 [10-5].

“I’m speechless,” Mendez said. “Feels really good to play for my nation and to win. Fans came from San Juan to here to cheer for us, friends and family – my brother and my father are here, and a lot of friends also, and it’s the first time we played beach tennis in a stadium like this.”

“It’s amazing – we have never been in a place like this,” echoed Rivera after the duo set up a second-round encounter with Brazilian No.4 seeds Vinicius Font and Joana Cortez.

“It’s a lot of pressure. I had to breathe and focus on my game, and play it point by point. And apparently, we had a lot of local people here from Puerto Rico who came to watch us, so we were excited about that. It’s a great feeling to win for your nation and I just feel incredible.”