The Chilean cousins took a 14-hour flight in order to compete in four-star Katara Cup that began today in Qatar.

After receiving a bye into the second qualification round they duly reached the main draw with a 21-16, 21-13 win over Germany's Nils Ehlers and Lars Fluggen.

"It was a little bit windy out there and our serve was very good in the middle of the first set and that made a difference that allowed us to get the win," Esteban Grimalt said.

"It was a very long flight, but we tried to sleep well and stretch in the middle of the flight so that we arrived in the best shape possible.

"Yesterday we rested all day and then in the evening we went to the gym for a short while, but focused on resting because we knew today would be a difficult day."

This running of the Katara Beach Cup marks the fifth time that Qatar has hosted a World Tour tournament and it will run until March 16 at the Katara Cultural Village.

The Grimalts' victory in Sydney was their second World Tour success in the past year following gold at the Tokyo three-star in July.

They were one of eight teams to reach pool play today.

Joining them there are Mart Tiisaar and Kusti Novlak, who won two from two in qualifying to progress, having also travelled from Sydney.

The Estonian duo began with a 15-21, 21-19, 20-18 win over Austria's Tobias Winter and Julian Horl, and followed up by defeating Canada's Ben Saxton and Grant O'Gorman 21-17, 21-18.

Only a men's tournament is being played in Doha.